


Across Our Universe

by LeafontheWinf2



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Action/Adventure, Companion Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Deaf Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Doctor/Companion Friendship, Happy Ending, IN SPACE!, M/M, Missing Persons, Pining Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Pining Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Protective Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Smart Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, The Doctor (Doctor Who) is an Idiot, Time Travel, Weeping Angels Ruin Everything, Who Let’s Two 20 Year Olds Fly the TARDIS?, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic is a Dork, Young Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:07:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29531016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeafontheWinf2/pseuds/LeafontheWinf2
Summary: A butterfly flaps it’s wings. An angel begins a hunt. And a future hero disappears.Hizashi knew he shouldn’t have stepped in the alleyway to get to class. But he really didn’t expect to end up trapped in the past with no clear way home to be the result. Luckily, Hizashi has the Doctor to help him become the hero the universe needs him to be.All Shouta wants is Hizashi back. The universe can’t have him.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first BNHA fic, and it’s about my favorite character in the show (I love Present Mic so much, it’s kind of ridiculous). Anyway, I got into the show around the same time I was rewatching Doctor Who and just suddenly had an idea. 
> 
> Doctor Who and BNHA crossover! Then I started wondering who would be a great companion and my brain just went: Mic. Whose super dramatic and speaks English and is clever. Who uses his words and his voice would be delighted with the Doctor and the Doctor would love this weird loud kid who is into everything. The. I realized young Mic and Bill running around being chaos friends with the Doctor would be amazing (and there’s the bug episode with Bill!) and this story idea got born. 
> 
> And yeah, I’m going to take liberties with Doctor Who and BNHA for this cause SPACE ADVENTURES and I’m going to make it happen.

**Hamamatsu, 1945**

Ash fell from the sky. Fires burned unchecked throughout the city. Distant cries of anguish filled the air while air raid sirens continued to scream. The haggard remains of the Imperial Army staggered down the street. 

And in a back alley, Yamada Hizashi stood in his uniform. Ash fluttered into the air when a half open backpack fell to the ground. The history boom gained a footprint as Hizashi stumbled forward, one shaking hand squeezed tight over his mouth. Tear tracks were already clearing tracks through the ash caked on his face. 

This wasn’t...this wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be on his way to school. Shouta and Tensei were waiting for him. Everyone was waiting for him! He wasn’t supposed to be here!

A strangled sob left him. His legs gave out, sending him crashing into the ground. Hizashi wailed, curling into himself as he just broke in the shattered remains of the street. His Voice was so loud that he didn’t hear the mechanical wheezing behind him, the grinding of reality readjusting as a b,he box faded into view. 

The door clicked open. And a Timelord stepped out into the remains of wartime Japan. Twenty steps as he stood in front of the crying boy, heavy brows furrowed as he stared.

The Doctor knelt down. “Yamada Hizashi,” the heavy Scottish brogue cut through the sobbing. “You’re a long way from home.”

Hizashi’s hand spasmed over his mouth. Nails cut into his cheek, blood pooling around his fingers and trickling down his sharp jaw. Another breath, and Hizashi was able to look up and meet concerned eyes staring at him. 

It took Hizashi three tries before he could actually speak. “Who...who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor. And I’m here to help.”

**Musutafu, 3021**

The day Hizashi’s entire life fell apart was a Thursday. It was spring, and he had slept through his alarms so Hizashi was in a rush to get to school. He had kissed his mom, Kanako, goodbye for the day but hadn’t said anything to his other mom, Manami. His three sisters didn’t have to start classes until later so they were still asleep when Hizashi stumbled out the door into the sunrise.

It was still early with dew budding on the grass as he’d rushed out the door to get to school. Classes didn’t start for another two hours, but Shouta was probably already training and Hizashi wanted to make sure that he actually ate something before class. It was one of those things they didn’t talk about. 

That was why Hizashi ducked down an alleyway to take a short cut. That was why Hizashi changed his daily routine and rushed past the abandoned house with an angel statue standing in its yard. Because that day, Hizashi chose to turn right instead of going straight. 

A butterfly flaps its wings in South America and creates typhoons off the coast of India. A hero student runs past a Weeping Angel and doesn’t know to keep his eyes on it. A hunt begins. The universe is changed forever. 

The thing about weeping angels is that they like to toy with their prey. They revel in the chase, the hunt, the fear. That’s why you can feel their eyes on the back of your neck as they close in because they enjoy seeing the terror in their prey’s eyes as they close in for the kill. That’s why the angel let Hizashi feel it’s gaze on him. 

Hizashi came to stop at the mouth of the alley. He turned, eyes widening at the sight of a weeping angel statue in front of him. 

“What...is this some sort of joke?” Hizashi murmured. He cocked his head to the side, “Is this someone’s idea of a prank?” Delicate fingers pulled his glasses off so he could look at the statue again. Then he blinked...  
  


The angel struck. Hizashi disappeared. The angel returned to the house to wait for more prey. And the only sign that Hizashi had been in that alley was his orange glasses lying on the ground. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this instead of sleeping! Two chapters cause chapter 1 was super short! Hope you all enjoy this (sorry for the lack of proofreading, I wrote this instead of sleeping tonight.)

**TARDIS, ?**

The Doctor scowled as he waved his sonic over Hizashi. The teenager was curled up on a seat in the console room, clinging tightly to his backpack as he cried silently. It was...rather worrying to see. The future Voice Hero, stuck and mute from the shock of suddenly ending up in the past. So the Doctor would forgive the fact the Hizashi hadn't even reacted to the TARDIS when he’d been dragged inside of it for the scan to start.

“Your vitals are looking decent for the situation,” the Doctor murmured, looking over the results from the sonic screwdriver, “Pulse and blood pressure are a bit high...but that’s understandable given the situation.”

Hizashi sniffled, wiping the tears from his face as he finally set his backpack down. 

“Genetic makeup looks decent, no radiation damage or unraveling DNA.” the Doctor murmured before running the sonic over him again for another scan. “Sonic readings are indicating you don’t get enough Vitamin C, so more oranges are in your future young man. Ah...there we go. That’s what happened here.”

The Doctor put his sonic away with a weary sigh. “You were grabbed by a Weeping Angel. That’s how you ended up stuck in the middle of WWII. Lucky I found you when I did. Another few minutes and the whole place was going up in flames during an air raid.”

Hizashi just stared blankly back at the Doctor. “I was where?”

“Hamamatsu. 1945. Along way from your native timeline.” 

“And that statue? That sent me back to 1945?” Hizashi let out a shrill, hysterical laugh. “Is...is it some kind of villain?”

“A villain? Oh! Right!” Hand meets forehead as the Doctor spun on his heel to start pulling information up from the TARDIS database. “You’re from the Quirk Age. The time of Heroes and Villains, right before the Golden Age of the Terran Empire! How exciting, I haven't been to that time period before.” The Doctor spun again, leaning back against the console dramatically. “But no, that creature that grabbed you was not a villain. Not like you’re thinking of.”

“Then what was that thing?”

“A hunter. A creature that preys on people’s timelines. It sends you back in time, then feeds off of the chronological displacement left behind.” The Doctor grabbed a stool from under the console, dragging it over so he could sit in front of Hizashi. “Basically, it feeds off of every day you miss in your own timeline. Every choice you could have made, every friend you would have met, every word that could have been spoken. The victim ends up back in the past and lives out their life there.”

“How did you find me?” Hizashi demanded, hands twisting into his hair, “I ended up over two centuires in the past. How could you possibly have found me like that?”

The Doctor grimaced. “I...may have a time machine. And space. A time and space machine. Relatively. The TARDIS.”

For the first time that day, Hizashi’s expression brightened. “Then you can get me home!”

“About that…” the Doctor pulled out his sonic again, handing it to Hizashi, “A bit more difficult than you think.”

Hizashi stared at the readings, red eyes wide. He didn’t understand a single thing that it said. “I don’t understand a single thing on this device.”

“Sonic screwdriver. And no, you probably wouldn’t, would you. They don’t exactly teach quantum mechanics to teenagers,” the Doctor grumbled while leaning forward to point at the readings. “This is reading your timeline. It’s currently in flux because the angel forcefully removed you from your native time. With me?”

“Yeah…”

“Right. Now, this angel is very, very old and very, very cruel. It didn’t just remove you from that moment. It removed you from your entire timeline. Permanently.” The Doctor sighed. “Meaning if I return you to your timeline at any point, then bad things will happen to you.”

Hizashi glared back at him. “How bad?” He was training to be a hero, he could handle it. 

“Your atoms get torn apart due to the damage caused by your timeline, scattered into the universe as you are literally dissolved from the universe. A slow, agonizing death.” 

All the blood left Hizashi’s face at that. The Doctor took the moment to lean in close. “But that was it supposed to happen to you. Yamada Hizashi was never supposed to be removed from that timeline. You are a fixed point in time and space which is how I was able to find you. The second you ended up in 1945, the entire universe was screaming from how wrong that was. You have to be in your timeline. If you aren’t. Well. The entire universe will end.”

Hizashi stared at the Doctor with wide eyes. “Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Bullshit! There’s no way I matter enough that the universe ends if I’m not there!” Hizashi didn’t care that his voice was getting louder and louder, or that his hands were waving everywhere. “I’m just me! The loud kid who had to be muzzled! The fucking joke of 3A who couldn’t even keep their friend alive, or keep the boy they love from breaking! I’m useless! I’m…”

“Amazing. Loving, kind, and clever. A good man, even now in the worst scenario I can think of. A true hero who the universe needs because the world is less bright with Yamada Hizashi in it.” The Doctor’s gaze pinned Hizashi to his seat. “You are important, and you matter. The choices you make shape the world around you for the best. So yes, the universe needs you. Hizashi. Present Mic. More than early anyone else.”

Tears were streaming down Hizashi’s face. 

But the Doctor wasn’t done with him just yet. “You will save so many people. Not just as a hero, but with your radio show and outreach. Every life you save, will save countless more. Billions of people in the future will owe their existence to you, and your desire to help others. Hell, your podcast? Played by Japan’s space exploration program as they branch out. It will be the broadcast that incites official first contact and starts off an age of exploration you can’t even begin to imagine. You are not a joke, or worthless. You are a billion coincidences combining to create a unique outcome, and the world is lucky to have you in it.”

Hizahi’s hand clamped over his mouth as he curled into himself, sobbing. He couldn’t...he didn’t know what to do.

The Doctor reached out, awkward in a way that reminded Hizashi of Shouta and god did that hurt (would he ever see Shouta again?) and briskly patted his shoulder. “Right. So you see, you are important and we need to get you home.” The Doctor bounded away, turning back to the console and getting the TARDIS running again. 

“Right now, you are a time refugee. Adrift while I figure out where to add you back into the timeline without making you disappear or collapsing the whole thing. And you will be added back, because of the fixed point in time deal.”

Hizashi got to his feet as the TARDIS started up. “If I’m a...time refugee. Where am I even supposed to go?”

“Why, you’ll stay with me! So I can keep an eye on you so nothing bad happens. Go to the school I teach at, get a degree in something, make friends, get drunk, kiss someone in the rain! The normal teenage experience!” The Doctor’s grin was wild and bright as he peaked around the console to beam at Hizashi instead approach, “And when I can get away from Nardole, insufferable pest, there’s a whole universe out there for you to see until you can go home.”

Hizashi laid his hand on the moving central pillar. “You said time and space. We can go...anywhere. In time and space.”

“As long as you keep up your studies.” The TARDIS came to a halt, the Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors opened. Hizashi turned, eyes widening at the sight of a green sky and orange land stretching out before him. “So what do you say, Hizashi? Are you willing to run away with a madman in a box for a while?”

It was a terrible day. He had lost everything with one blink. He was stranded with no way to contact home and no promise that it would be quick or easy getting back there. But standing there with an alien landscape stretching in front of him, Hizashi couldn’t help but smile. It was small, and more fragile than a butterfly’s wings, but it was there.

“All of time and space,” Hizashi breathed walking towards the TARDIS doors, “That sounds pretty alright for now.”

The Doctor grinned as Hizashi stepped forward onto his first alien planet. “Present Mic. Oh, how you’ll run. They won’t know what hit them.”

**Musutafu, 3021**

The bell for the end of the school day had wrung and Shouta should be going to the gym to train. Really, he was going to. But...Hizashi wasn’t in his seat today. He had never come by the gym to bring Shouta breakfast. He hadn’t been there to talk about anything and everything, which Shouta loved but would never actually admit. Hizashi hadn’t been in any of their classes, or at lunch, and hadn’t texted or called or said anything about where he was. Shouta knew. He’d checked with Tensei and Nemuri to see if Hizashi had talked to them. 

(He tried to squash down the part that hurt at that thought that he’d driven Hizashi, beautiful, too good Hizashi away from him. Tried, and failed.)

Shouta waited until the room cleared, leaving him and Tensei behind as they approached Nedzu. Their home room teacher had the same pleasant look on his face, like he always did, and Shouta hoped that Nedzu would tell that Hizashi was just sick or something like that.

“Excuse me, sensei?” Shouta waited for Nedzu’s full attention, “I just...do you know why Yamada wasn’t in today? Is he sick?”

Nedzu’s pleasant expression melted away. “I’m afraid I didn’t receive a message from either of his mothers excusing him for the day for an illness.”

Shouta curled into himself at that. If Hizashi wasn’t sick, then why wasn’t he here? Why wasn’t he where Shouta could watch over him to make sure he was safe? 

Something seemed to spark in Nedzu. Some terrible puzzle piece clicked into place. “Has Yamadam contacted either of you today?”

Tensei stepped in when it was clear Shouta couldn’t. “No sir, that’s why we wanted to ask you.”

Nedzu sighed, turning away from them. “I see. Thank you boys. I’m going to have you ask you to stay here then. I need to call something into the police and they’ll need to speak with you both.” 

Shouta’s blood froze in his veins. Tensei sent him a worried look before pressing on. “Sensei. Why would you need to call the police?”

“Isn’t it obvious Iida?” Nedzu wouldn’t look at either of them. “I’m filing a missing person’s report.”

Shouta’s world collapsed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, Bill Potts and Hizashi will meet. Chaos will follow in their wake! Look out universe!
> 
> Also, I want the Doctor to give me advice like he does Hizashi.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this week I am in break from work (it’s how I managed to stay up way too late to get this story up and going), and my goal is to get a chapter out a day through Sunday. Just to get back into the practice of writing again since it’s been months since I last had the motivation to write anything. 
> 
> Plus this chapter we have Bill! She was one of my favorite companions with the Doctor. She’s the best and I wish we had more episodes with her (sort of how I feel about Present Mic haha).
> 
> Just a heads up, this is also going to be more slice of life chapters instead of a continuous story because that’s just more exciting to me. Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

**Musutafu, 3021**

The classroom was empty except for Nedzu. He was settled at his desk, a mug of tea warming his paws as he waited. It had been three days since Yamada disappeared, leaving only an abandoned pair of sunglasses in an alleyway as the only sign of where he had been. It has been two and a half days since Nedzu had to call Yamada’s mothers and tell them their son was missing. Two and half days since Iida and Kayama had their hearts broken again by the loss of another friend.

Three days since Aizawa’s world collapsed on him again. Nedzu wasn’t sure if he couldn’t find some sort of good news for the boy that he would implode in on himself.

So Nedzu stayed behind in his classroom and waited for answers to come. And at half past four, they did. A blue police box appeared in the room, its manifestation rustling the papers tucked safely under a paperweight. A few simple seconds and it was just there, the doors opening as the Doctor strode into the classroom. 

“This is quaint,” the Doctor approached Nedzu’s desk, “It’s been centuries since I was in a high school classroom. You can practically smell the teenage angst in the air.”

“Doctor.” The mug made a dull thunk as it was set down. “You have my missing student.”

The Doctor paused, standing next to what was coincidentally Yamada’s desk. “I do. Picked him up stranded in 1945 of all places.”

Ah. That was where Yamada had been taken to. The question had been bugging Nedzu for more than just three days now (time is not linear after all). “And he’s safe?”

“Safe as possible. There’s no one hundred percent guarantee. You of all people should know that.”

True, but not the point. Yamada was his student, one of the brightest and kindest that Nedzu had ever encountered. And he wanted his student safely back where he belonged. “When will Yamada be back.”

The Doctor winced, “No idea.”

“...Excuse me.”

“I don’t know, not yet. Yamada will be back, that I can promise. I just don’t have an exact timeframe to give you,” the Doctor suddenly looked his age. “His timeline...it’s broken right now. If I just drop Yamada back into place tomorrow, then his very atoms will be torn apart. I can’t let that happen, so it will take quite some time before it’s safe for him to come back.”

Nedzu could feel his fur bristling at the very thought. “Then what do you plan to do? Yamada has another year of high school left. Not to mention the hours he needs to keep his temporary license as a pro hero?”

“An apprenticeship would get around that for his hero license. And I am technically registered with the British Hero Commission still so I can sign off on it,” was the Doctor’s quick response, “And as for high school. Well. He’s already tested out of high school and is working on getting a college degree where I work for now.”

Nedzu finally relaxed at that. Yamada would be taken care of. “You do understand I will need you to speak with the police about this?”

The Doctor grimaced, “I figured. Good thing I have a time machine.”

“Quite.”

**St. Luke’s University, 2017**

Hizashi gathered his books together as the lecture finished up. It was...strange to live in the 21st century. The technology wasn’t all that different, and the social media sites hadn’t really changed much (which said so much about how little technology had updated since the dawn of quirks, another thing Hizashi didn’t know how to deal with) but the hardest part was actually the lack of quirks. 

He had grown used to seeing the obvious signs of mutation quirks, the smell of ozone from quirks based around the elements, bizarre hair and eye colors that were normal. But a world where his eyes were strange and he had to wear colored contacts so the red in them didn’t scare people. Or the fact that his ability to shatter glass with his voice was considered so far out there and bizarre that it didn’t even really register to most people as something you could do. There were no heroes, no real villains, just...people. 

Everything Hizashi knew to be part of reality no longer applied. And even after spending three months in the past, he still needed to adjust or reach out to people. The Doctor and Nardole had been pushing for him to talk with his classmates or go out to a pub. But Hizashi couldn’t. Not yet.

Not when the thought of going out made him think of his friends and family he had left behind. It hurt to think of making new friends when he lied awake at night, thinking about how he had left Shouta alone and there wasn’t anyone there to make sure he ate or slept and how could Hizashi do that to him?

(In the darkest parts of night, Hizashi thought about how he hadn’t confessed to Shouta. How he’d always meant to but now couldn’t. It wasn’t fair.)

So that was why he was pleasant and smiled at his classmates as he picked his way across campus but didn’t stop or talk to anyone. He made it in record time, sliding the door open and stepping into the office in the hopes of just curling up somewhere and not dealing with people. Except that wasn’t going to be possible, was it? Because there was a girl seated in front of the Doctor’s desk, tilting her chair back so she could grin at him.

“You here for the Doc?”

Hizashi shifted on his feet. “Ah, sort of? He usually lets me work in here. I’m Hizashi.” That was another thing he was getting used to, the more relaxed use of names here. 

The girl, woman really, bounced to her feet. Her handshake was as wild as her smile. “I’m Bill. Bill Potts. The Doctor’s been tutoring me recently!”

“Hizashi Yamada, I’m sort of his ward? Or mentee/apprentice thing. We’re working on it.”

“You’re the time travel guy! The one that got stuck in the past!” Bill looked absolutely stoked. “The Doctor mentioned you a few days ago, said I’d probably run into you here! That’s wicked!”

Hizashi grimaced, “Yeah, I guess.”

Bill leaned in close. “Is it true you’re a superhero?”

That actually got a smile out of Hizashi, “I’m a hero in training, not a full hero yet. That’s why I’m the Doctor’s apprentice right now.”

Bill’s eyes were huge. “The Doctor is a superhero? Seriously? He looks more like a knock-off magician! Please tell me you aren’t going to dress like that as a hero.” 

Hizashi, for the first time in three months, actually laughed. “Yeah, no. No knock off magicians. A lot of leather though, that’s my plan!” At Bill’s quizzical look, he continued. “Leather is good at keeping people from stabbing you so that’s my plan. Plus I’m going to gel my hair straight up.”

Bill cast a dubious glance to his long hair. “All of that. Straight up?”

“Yeah, like a banana. Or a cockatoo.” Hizashi’s smile turned wicked. “My older sister said I would never be able to pull it off. So now it's going to be part of my brand.”

“Excellent reason to do that. I approve.” Bill glanced at the clock. “I have no idea where the Doctor is. Want to just go?” Hizashi hesitated. “I can tell you all about how the Doctor saved me from a really pretty girl who turned into an alien water ship.”

How on earth was Hizashi supposed to pass that up? “Sure thing. In return, can I interest you in my hopeless crush on my best friend who's like, 200 years in the future?”

“Fuck yeah. That sounds amazing. Trauma team, go!”

**Musutafu, 3021**

Shouta slammed the door behind him as he threw himself out of the Yamada’s house. It did nothing to drown out the sound of Hizashi’s mothers and sisters crying over their lost son. It didn’t get rid of how Nemuri looked gutted to learn that Hizashi was gone, or how Tensei seemed to age before Shouta’s eyes at the news that their friend was lost in time and space.

Slamming the door did nothing to make Shouta feel better. It didn’t bring his best friend back, didn’t suddenly cause Hizashi to appear back by Shouta’s side or let them talk or hang out or do anything….god.

Shouta curled into himself. His eyes squeezed shut. He wished he could cry.

It had only been three days. Three days without Hizashi and Shouta was falling apart. He’d thought losing Oborro was the worst thing that would ever happen to him, but he hadn’t even considered the thought that Hizashi would just not come home one day and leave Shouta alone. It felt like someone had grabbed his lungs from inside his chest and was squeezing the breath out of them. 

(How was Shouta supposed to go on? He’d taken Hizashi for granted, he knew that now from the gaping wound his presence left behind, but how was Shouta going to fix this when Hizashi was centuries away from him?)

The door opened again, but Shouta couldn’t bring himself to face whoever found him having a breakdown. And when the sound of dress shoes clacking over pavement reached him...well. It was a very different reason for Shouta to stay hunched over. Specifically, it was the only thing keeping him from punching the Doctor. Was it illogical to blame the Doctor for taking Hizashi away. Yes. Did Shouta particularly care about that right now? No, he really didn’t. 

Now if only the Doctor would take the hint and just...go. Leave and let Shouta stay behind with his broken heart.

“Hizashi will be back, I can promise that,” the Doctor’s voice cracked through the air between them, “He’s needed here. So one day he will come home.”

“But you don’t know when,” he didn’t care that his voice sounded destroyed, “You don’t know when Hizashi will come home. And you won’t let us talk to him, or let him call us, or have any hint that he’s alright!”   
  


That was the hardest part. For Shouta to just...sit and wait for Hizashi to come back to him. To be told there was nothing he could do. 

If Shouta had looked up, he would have seen sadness in ancient eyes. “I am sorry for that. But I can’t risk communication making Hizashi’s timeline more unstable right now. Once I’ve got it a bit more put into place, you will be able to write him.” A fond huff of breath. “You could even start writing him now you know.”

Shouta’s brows furrowed, “But he won’t get my letters.”

“Not today. Or next month. But you can hold onto them, and I’ll give him the whole stack,” the Doctor purposefully stared up at the clouds when Shouta turned to look at him, “And you can make sure Hizashi will have a life to come back to here. He’ll have no credit, no savings, nothing to fall back on.”

“He won’t need that,” true determination blazed through Shouta for the first time in months, “Zashi won’t need any of that stuff. He’ll have me.”

A knowing smile crossed the Doctor’s face as he started towards his TARDIS. “He will, won’t he. You’ll wait for him then, Aizawa Shouta?”

“Until the end of time.” A solemn vow to take before a Time Lord and TARDIS.

The Doctor laughed as he stepped into the TARDIS. “The Boy Who Waited and the Boy Who Was Lost. The universe won’t know what hit it!”

No, the universe wouldn’t. Shouta was just a kid right now, standing alone as the TARDIS phased out of existence, but he would grow. He would get stronger and better and faster and Hizashi would be safe when he came home. Shouta would keep his loud blond safe, and not even the universe would be able to stop him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Nedzu going to show up again due to time travel? Yes, yes he is. Is Shouta going to become over protective when his blond comes back from space? Yes to that as well. 
> 
> Most of my chapters are going to split between Hizashi and Shouta to be honest to show how they’re both struggling with the separation. Not all. But a good majority will focus on that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this chapter, I actually got team Doctor out into space! Also not going to lie, I included my favorite concept for humans alien first contact in here because why not?
> 
> Shouta’s going to be an angsty small beam for a while longer. This chapter I wanted to get into a little bit on how he was coping with everything, and the journal was the first thing that came to mind. And yes, one day soon Hizashi and Shouta will be able to exchange letters.

**Musutafu, 3021**

_ Hizashi,  _

_ We graduate next month and it still doesn’t feel right. Every day I come to class and expect to see you there. I still grab extra copies of the work so you can make it up even when I know you’ll never get it seeing how you’re taking college classes now.  _

Shouta curled up under his quilt. The sound of pen scratching across paper was the only sound in the room. He’d given up on writing Hizashi individual letters four months ago when he ran out of lined paper in his room. So instead he’d bought a pretty looking notebook Hizashi would have loved and started writing there.

At least once a day, Shouta wrote a letter to Hizashi. On the really bad days, the days where Hizashi’s missing space felt like a physical wound, Shouta wrote until his hand cramped. He’d even passed out a couple of times writing frantically to Hizashi in the journal, waking up with a stiff neck from where he’d curled around the journal to protect it in his sleep. 

Those nights were the worst. They were the nights when Shouta dreamed that Hizashi was with him again. Sometimes it would be a simple dream where they were both in class again. Other times it would be more adventurous, Shouta joining Hizashi as they raced across galaxies together. 

The worst dreams? The ones Shouta tried hard to forget about when he woke up because they just hurt too much? Those were the dreams where Hizashi would turn to him and Shouta would meet him halfway. Lips would meet and then Shouta would wake up with a pit of loss lodged in his stomach for the rest of the day. 

_ I’ve been searching for apartments for us when you come back. I can’t afford a two bedroom yet, but I’ve been putting money aside in savings so I can get us somewhere nice. Just to warn you, we’ll have cats when we move in. At least two of them. I’ll be nice and even let you name one.  _

Shouta paused. His jaw hurt from his tightly he was clenching it and he had to make an effort to relax until it stopped hurting. Music was playing from a battered radio he’d grabbed from a thrift store when the silence had gotten too much to handle. She. hizashi was back, they’d listen to it together again like they had before Shouta had shut Hizashi out in his grief.

_ You’ll laugh at me, but I went out and got you a punch of glow-in-the-dark stars for when you get back. Just in case you missed space or something, I could give you a little bit of it back when you’re home. It might not be as nice as actual space, but I’ll set it up for you. I’ll get whatever you need for this to be your home again.  _

“Hey.” Shouta put the pen down. Tensei and Nemuri were standing in the doorway watching him with sad eyes. “You ready to go?”

Today they were going to the arcade for the first time since Hizashi had disappeared. Shouta didn’t want to go, he wanted to just stay in bed and continue pretending that Hizashi would be back tomorrow. 

But that hadn’t worked when he’d done it after losing Oborro. Instead it just left Shouta with a million regrets and moments of what-ifs looking back on the time he could have spent with Hizashi before losing him. So Shouta would get out of bed and spend time with his other friends. 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” The journal shut. It was placed gently, lovingly on the end table as Shouta walked over to join the others. “Is there anything specific we’re aiming for while we’re there?”

Kayama’s smile turned wicked. “There’s a giant centipede bug plush as a prize right now. We’re going to win it and give it to Hizashi when he gets back.”

Tensei’s mouth twitched as they started down the stairs, “You know he hates bugs. Right?”

“That’s why we’re getting it. If you get kidnapped by aliens, you get shitty arcade prizes as punishment.”

“Is this a rule or something?”

“It is now! Shouta, what do you think?”

“I think we should fill a crate with stuff like that. Give it to him as a present when he comes home.”

“Yeah! See, Tensei! Shouta gets it.”

“You two are the worst.”

**Doleitania, 5287**

It had been a year now, and Hizashi still wasn’t used to alien planets. It was still as bizarre as that first one with green skies and orange dirt. The differences in clothing, the traditions, even the way the air smelled! All of it was so strange and Hizashi loved it! (Even if there was a small part of him that felt guilty because of how much he enjoyed seeing the universe. A tiny part of him kept whispering that he should be miserable right now).

But the best part of traveling with the Doctor? Was working with Bill to mess with Nardole. Which was honestly not their fault. Half the time they ended up on an alien planet the Doctor was running off towards something, leaving the two of them with the very big buzz kill that was Nardole who didn’t believe in fun.

Which led to the current situation. Doleitania was a planet ravaged by a civil war that distorted the population, on the brink of complete planetary collapse. And they had sent a distress message into space in the hopes that someone would be able to help their people recover as a species. That’s why they had come, the Doctor had explained when they landed. Never turn away a cry for help. 

Hizashi had taken that to heart. 

Now the Doctor was in negotiations with the surviving planetary leaders leaving Hizashi and Bill to entertain a pack of children with Nardole as competent adult supervision. So like the responsible young adults they were, Hizashi and Bill had organized the horde of wide eyed children into a pack and were destroying random things to make them laugh. 

Correction. Hizashi was being given stuff then he would whistle/scream/yell at the right frequency to shatter whatever it was into a million pieces. Bill was recording the whole thing as evidence that Hizashi was training his quirk. 

“I feel like this is irresponsible,” Bill mused as the gang of children scattered to find something new to explode after Hizashi had concrete. 

“It is!” Was Nardole’s contribution at the same time that Hizashi said, “Nah. This is totally fine.”

Nardole fixed him with a glare, “How is this fine? This is a horrible example for children to watch! Using your quirk to ruin things!”

“Okay, first, everything is already ruined. This is an actual war zone.” Hizashi gestured to the fact that they were sitting in literal ruins under the TARDIS. “And second, it’s super fun. No one ever lets me just destroy stuff with my Voice back home.”

“It’s wicked cool, you got to admit,” Bill added as she draped herself across Hizashi’s shoulders, “Actual superpowers! A real superhero! What could be better than that?”

“Not exploding chunks of concrete!”

Seriously, what was Nardole expecting? They were both still at that age where you just wanted to cut loose and go wild. This was tame compared to some of their other adventures together, or even compared to what Hizashi had done with his friends back home. 

The screams of children had the trio up and off their seats. These weren’t the happy screams of children at play. No, these were the terrified screams of some sort of threat, some primal danger that sent the kids scurrying for cover as the skies above started to open up. 

“That can’t be good,” Bill muttered as the sky began to fill with ships above them. The scent of fear was practically choking as the survivors of the war ran for cover, trained after nearly a century of combat to hide when something was in the sky. 

“Back in the TARDIS,” Nardole ordered fluttering around them in an attempt to herd them back to safety, “Squishy humans back in the TARDIS so we can go.”

Hizashi reached up to the choker in his neck. A quick press of the central button and the nano-tech inside of it expanded into a directional speaker as he stared up at the sky. “There’s no line of defense left on this planet.”

Nardole sounded like a kettle boiling over. “And you’re going to fight them off single handedly are you! Not on my watch TARDIS! Now!”

“What about those kids,” Bill demanded stepping closer to Hizashi, “We can’t just leave them!”

“And we won’t! Never leave a child in distress!” The Doctor’s voice cut through the air as he came bounding into view, the planet's remaining leader following in his wake. 

“Do we know what they want?” Hizashi asked. 

“Not a clue. But they sent a representative down to speak with us. Told them to aim for the blue box,” the Doctor flipped his sonic into his hands, “Let’s see what their demands are.”

They didn’t have to wait long. There was something indescribable about the smell of a teleporter but it was unique. And that smell was all Hizashi needed to push himself in front of Bill as the Doctor stepped up to his side. 

The figure in front of them was human shaped, different from the native population that was aquatic based. It had some sort of weapon strapped to its thigh and a huge pack on its pack as it approached them with heavy steps. 

When it was a few paces away, the figure came to a stop in front of them and...started gesturing with its hands. The group just stared. “Um, Doctor,” Bill hissed, “What’s it doing?”

Hizashi cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing. There was something familiar in those movements. 

“I have no idea. Nardole?”

“Nope. No idea.”

“Ah. This may be tricky then.”

Hizashi sucked in a sharp breath. “It’s ASL!”

The Doctor turned to him, “Its what?”

“ASL! American Sign Language!” He let out a shrill laugh, relaxing now that he recognized it. His hand brushed his long hair to the side, his hearing aid exposed to the alien air, “I learned it along with JSL when my hearing started to go when I was eight. My whole family learned!”

The Doctor gripped his hair in frustration. “Sign language. Of course! The one thing the TARDIS can’t automatically translate!”

Bill pressed closer to Hizashi, “So do you know what they’re saying?”

“Yeah, I can figure it out once they repeat themselves,” Hizashi’s hand signed as he spoke, “I missed the first half trying to figure out why it was so familiar.”

The figure perked up in obvious excitement. It pushed the visor of its suit up, exposing a human face as it started to sign again. Hizashi watched carefully, eyebrows scrunching as the message. “Oh. That...that changes things then.”

The Doctor scowled, “What are their demands?”

Hizashi couldn’t answer. 

“Well?” One of the planet’s leaders asked. “What do they say?”

“They...they said they’re Doctors Without Borders,” a huge smile lit up Hizashi’s eyes as he turned to face the stunned faces of the group, “They said they’re here to help.”

**Musutafu, 3021**

It was dark when Shouta got back from the arcade. The entire house was quiet as he slipped up the stairs and crept back into his room with his prizes clutched close to his chest. Nemuri and Tensei had shoved the items off on his after they’d gone on a spree at the arcade, arguing it was only logical that Shouta keep them for Hizashi when he was planning on getting them to move in with each other once...once Hizashi was home. 

He didn’t bother turning his bedroom lights on. It wouldn’t matter, not when he had a flashlight so he could write in the journal in the darkness. But the journal could wait. Right now Shouta had a mission to complete.

The prizes were placed gently on the bed as he headed towards the closet. It took a couple of minutes but he managed to pull out an old cardboard box that was filled with winter gear. Shouta just dumped the contents out onto the floor before striding over to sit on the bed and tuck the prizes away.

Just like Nemuri had promised, there was a centipede plush that was tucked into the bottom of the box. It was quickly followed by a tacky pair of cat themed headphones Tensei had won, a pack of pencils they had gotten from a claw machine, and a pack of hard candies that wouldn’t go bad even if Hizashi was gone for years.

Shouta grimaced at that thought. He refused to accept the idea that it would be years before he saw Hizashi again.

And at the bottom of the loot pile was the reason why Shouta had been late home from the arcade. A single CD filled with the latest hits that Hizashi had missed. Shouta had seen the music store on his way home. It had been the type of place that Hizashi would have loved, bright and vibrant and warm. Shouta had been drawn to it like a moth to flame, searching for hours through the CDs on display before he’d found the right one to spend his remaining pocket money on.

Gently, the CD was placed in the box. He couldn’t help but let his fingers linger on cool plastic for just a moment before pulling away to grab his flashlight. A finger click and the light was on. Another click and the pen was uncapped as Shouta turned back to the journal.

_ Dear Hizashi, _

_ Today we went to the arcade. It didn’t feel right without you there, but I went anyway because I knew you would want me to. There’s a lot I’m doing now because it would have made you smile. Tensei and Nemuri managed to win you a lot of prizes that I had to hold, but if they make you smile they’ll be worth it... _

**Doleitania, 5287**

The human hospital ships had all landed. Triage units were being sent out, and the beginnings of first aid were already spreading throughout the populace as Hizashi watched from his perch on a broken wall. 

Bill and Nardole were guiding the gang of kids they’d been entertaining for medical help. Hizashi should be down there with them, but he’d needed to step back away from everyone and just breathe. 

Not that he could escape notice as the Doctor dropped down to sit beside him. “What’s running through that head if yours?”

“Two hours ago, these people had no hope. No medicine or supplies. Their food was running out. Then these ships came and everything got a little better,” Hizashi’s arms wrapped around his leg as he watched the action below, “There’s so much cruelty and hate in the universe. It’s just...with all the evil out there, how does the good remain?”

“Ah, a crisis of faith. I was wondering when it was coming,” a fond smile crossed the ancient face, “It is true. There are terrible things that happen every day. But that’s why there are heroes, like you and the doctors working down there. People who stood and faced the darkness and said the same thing.”

“What?”

“No more. Not one person, not a single soul would fall into the darkness under their watch. And they will fail and fall sometimes, that’s part of being human.” The Doctor jostled Hizashi’s shoulder. “But they stand back up and face the darkness again just to save one more person.”

Hizashi hummed at that. “Just one more person.” A soft smile crossed Hizashi’s face, “I can save just one more. Yeah, that’s the type of hero I’m going to be.”

The Doctor laughed, bright and loud as they sat together on an alien world watching the best of humanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love space Doctors Without Borders so much! Just...the very best of us, of our humanity, going out there and trying to help. My favorite thing ever. Plus, the impact that would have on like an 18 year old who wants to be a hero? Just standing there watching humanity help this alien world? That’s the type of content I like to write.
> 
> And next chapter we’ll be going forward in time a bit to when Shouta and the others graduate. So there will be more hero work coming up soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s time! The entire reason why I chose 12th Doctor and Present Mic. “Knock Knock” is one of the creepiest bug episodes in Doctor Who and it freaks me out so much that I love it. 
> 
> So here it is, move in day!

**Musutafu, 3022**

A loud shriek sounded from the bedroom followed by the thud of two bodies colliding. Shouta winced, trying not to think about what was happening back there as Hizashi’s sisters descended onto what would one day be the blond’s room. Shouta did not want to get involved with that mess, so he kept his head down as he struggled to get the TV set up. 

“You’re braver than I am,” Kanako called out from where she was setting up the kitchen, “I wouldn’t unleash those four on anything for all the money in the world.”

Shouta scowled down at the tangle of cables in his hands. “It’s good for them. I figure if anyone knows what Hizashi’s room should look like, it’ll be the four of them.”

Kanako snorted, “More like they know how to drive him crazy with that set up.”

“That’s what he gets for being kidnapped by aliens.” It had become a running theme for them all. Find a ridiculous alien patterned sheets? They’re going on Hizashi’s bed because aliens. Bug designs on clothing? Get it cause of aliens. Purposefully buy the CDs of bands they know Hizashi hates? Then he shouldn’t be running around in space without them.

And judging from the way Kanako laughs, she gets it. 

(Neither of them will acknowledge the fact that Kanako’s eyes always have a lingering sadness in them. Or how Manami wasn’t here because she’d broken down sobbing at the thought of packing up Hizashi’s things, like he had died, so everyone had agreed to buy new ones to make it a little less hard on her.

Neither mentioned this was the first time Hizashi’s sisters had actually laughed with wild abandon since Hizashi disappeared. Or how Umeko and Chiharu, the youngest of the girls, had been sleeping in Hizashi’s old room since that horrible day. That Tsubame had moved back in with her mothers’ and Itsuko called them all everyday without fail at 2pm to make sure her family was still there.

Neither would mention the fact that Shouta was stuck in place, yearning for Kanako’s son to come home.)

“Now sweetheart, I got a little bit of everything for your kitchen. But the two things you’ll need the most have already been set up,” Kanako waved Shouta over, quickly running through the two devices, “This is an automatic rice cooker. I already wrote out how much water and rice go in it here, so follow these directions. And this is a slow cooker, you can just dump things in here and leave it on low all day. Again, I’ve written out some recipes here for you to follow.”

Shouta nodded following her around dutifully. He very carefully did not mention he planned on just living off of jelly packs. For the foreseeable future because cooking was too much effort. 

Kanako reached out to tug gently on a strand of his black hair (like she did with all of her kids and that...that hurt in the best way), “Shouta. If you only eat those disgusting jelly packs I will know. And I will be very displeased that you aren’t taking care of yourself. So displeased, that I will have Tsubame move in with you to make sure you’re okay.”

“No! Really, you do not have to do that!” Tsubame was...fine. She was nice enough. But she’d also realized Shouta had a crush on her baby brother back in first year and had been planning the wedding on her Pinterest board since then, along with very vocally asking Shouta for his opinion. Tsubame was...a lot. She was best in small doses with plenty of time between their meetings. 

Kanako cackled at him, patting his cheek fondly before allowing Shouta to escape back to the living room. They worked in silence, both listening to the girls’ very loud argument about the best way to lay out the decorations on Hizashi’s desk. A delighted shriek was the sign that Chiharu, the baby, had gotten her way. 

The front door of the apartment opened as Shouta finished up the tv. Tensei and Nemuri came rushing into the room, delighted smiles clear across their faces as they dragged in a ridiculous number of bags with them. Little Tenya followed close behind, tiny expression serious as can be, carrying one bag in his hands as he followed his big brother like a particularly serious duckling.

Shouta glared at his friends. “What did you do.”

Nemuri’s grin widened, “Got you some housewarming presents!”

“I don’t need housewarming presents.” 

Tensei blew a raspberry at him, “You totally do. You’re the first one to actually get a place so we needed to get you something equally awesome.”

That was not particularly reassuring. The last time Tensei said they needed to do something awesome, he got them banned from the local grocery store. 

Tenya held up his tiny bag as an offering, “I made sure to get you the best present Mr. Shouta!”

Kanako cooed at how cute that was. Shouta made sure to glare at his cackling friends before kneeling down to take the bag from the kid. “Thanks kiddo. I’m sure it’s great.”

Tenya beamed before scampering away to join Kanako in the kitchen leaving Shouta with the two idiots he was stuck with.

Shouta glared up at them as they dumped the bags on his newly acquired couch, “If you guys got me something weird, I swear…”

“Nope. This is totally normal,” Tensei promised, “Trust me!”

“You're a menace.”

Nemuri shrieked, pushing the pile of bags towards Shouta. “Just open your presents already!”

Rolling his eyes, Shouta opened the bag in his hands. A jumbled pile of cat toys stared back up at him. He looked up to stare at the bag pile. “...is this all stuff for a cat I don’t have?”

Tensei and Nemuri shared a delighted look. “No, this is for the cat you’re getting today!”

“What?!”

The door was pushed open again as Manami came sweeping into the room, a cat carrier held securely in her arms as she beamed at Shouta. He couldn’t...she bought him a cat. She went out and spent money on a cat that he was not expecting to get, or had paid the pet deposit to keep. 

Kanako pushed herself out of the kitchen, “You did not go out and buy him a cat. Manami, what the hell were you thinking?”

Manami did not seem repentant at all as she swept across the living room like a queen, “I was thinking that little Shouta here always wanted a cat and this was the best opportunity to do so! So while I went to the shelter, I sent these three to get supplies! Tenya, sweetheart can you shut the door? Thank you so much baby.”

Shouta numbly accepted the cat carrier into his arms. “There’s a pet deposit…”

Manami waved that away, “I already paid that.”

He couldn’t accept that. He really could not accept that they had paid for a pet deposit on top of paying for the actual deposit to the apartment. Shouta had tried to argue out of them paying that, but both women had waved his protests away and done it anyway. (Shouta knew it was so they could feel like they had done something to help Hizashi in this mess. So he hadn’t argued much against it.) But a pet deposit and a cat? Way too far. 

Shouta refused to look at the cat. He couldn’t afford to get attached to it. “I won’t be home all the time to feed it. It would be cruel for the cat to starve.”

“The girls could feed it for you when you’re out,” Manami countered settling down onto the couch, “They’d love to pet sit for a cute kitty. Now quit stalling and open the door to meet your new buddy!” Shouta rolled his eyes but let his fingers open the catch. The second the door swung open, the cat came bounding out and was looking around the room.

Shouta was in love. It was a big fluffy cat, all poofy orange fur and wide green eyes had bounded out. It was already purring up a storm as it decided to rub all over little Tenya, the closest human to it. A very happy chirp from the cat had the girls rushing from what would be Hizashi’s room and crowding around Shouta to coo over the cat. 

“It’s soooo cute!” Umeko squealed. 

“It’s so loud,” Itsuko sounded delighted, “Shouta. Shouta, you need to name it Hizashi because they both have long hair and are loud.”

Before Shouta could say anything to that, Tsubame was shoving his face aside to get in her sister’s face, “That is the stupidest name you could have come up with!”

“Hey! What does that mean!”

“It means why would you call it Hizashi when it could be Present Meow!?”

“Like that’s any better!”

Shouta squirmed free of the girls to rub behind the cat’s ears. “His name is Cheeto. Cause he’s orange.”

Absolute silence. Then Nemuri snorted, “Yeah. No. The cat’s Present Meow. It’s been decided.”

Shouta glared at her, “It’s my cat!”

“And we’re going to train it to respond to Present Meow. Maybe if you did suck at naming things, this wouldn’t be necessary.”

Shouta handed the cat to Tenya, then launched himself at Nemuri. With a scream, the pair of them went rolling across the apartment floor. 

Tensei rolled his eyes, “Bet Hizashi doesn’t have to deal with this bullshit on his space adventures.”

**St. Luke’s University, 2017**

Hizashi twisted around the corner, chin pinning down Bill’s stuff so the boxes wouldn’t fall out of his hands. “This should be the last of it!”

“Thank you, so much! You know, for a twig, you’ve got some serious muscle,” Bill cheered helping him settle the boxes down, “Sure I can’t convince you to move in with us? There’s an open room.”

“Nah, I’ve got to stay on the TARDIS in case something goes wrong.” Hizashi threw himself to settle on her bed, “Plus, the TARDIS has been stabilizing my timeline according to the Doctor so the more I sleep there the sooner I can go home!”

Bill smirked at him, “Go home to your lover boy?”

“Shouta is not my lover boy!”

“Denial,” Bill sang out as she started putting her clothes away, “Are you going to ask him out when you get back?”

Hizashi pouted, “I don’t even know if he likes me back. I don’t want to ruin our friendship by making it weird.”

“You won’t know until you ask. That’s the whole reason why you, ya know, confess. Plus if this Shouta guy gets weird about it, then just keep traveling with me and the Doctor! Problem solved,” Bill settled on the bed next to him. “Hey, you alright?”

Hizashi twisted to stare up at the ceiling. “Yeah? Why do you ask.”

“Cause you’ve been playing with your hearing aids since you got here.”

Huh. He had been doing that. He hadn’t even noticed that his hands were fiddling with them. Hizashi just shrugged, “I think so, I’m just getting some feedback on them. Might be from old wiring, that used to happen back home.”

Bill nodded, “You thinking of taking the Doctor up on his offer to give you space hearing aids from the future?”

“Probably. The ones he offered charge with solar power so I wouldn’t have to charge them. It sucks having your hearing cut out because you forgot to charge your ears the night before.” Hizashi stuck his tongue out at her, getting a bright laugh from Bill.

“Speaking of, where is the Doctor?”

“You mean your grandpa?” Hizashi teased, “He’s checking out the windows downstairs.”

“He is so weird.” Bill rolled onto her feet and stomped out the door, grumbling about nosy Timelords. Hizashi snorted, settling back into the bed to stare up at the ceiling. A small part of him felt cheated that he couldn’t join Bill here, but it was easy to quash when remembering that being disintegrated was a side effect if the Doctor didn’t get his timeline back in check. That made it a bit easier to deal with. 

And maybe when he got home he could ask Shouta to move in with him? Hizashi bit his lip, imaging what it would be like. Just...existing together with Shouta. Seeing him first thing in the morning and right before he went to bed. They’d have cats, Hizashi knew that already, and it would be super cute and they’d be cat dads. And maybe Hizashi would charm Shouta with his mad cooking skills and get the eraser hero to fall madly in love with him? It was a good day dream…wait a second.

Hizashi pushed himself up onto his forearms. Something was on the ceiling of Bill’s new room. “Hey Bill? Doctor?” Hizashi called, hand going to his powered down directional speaker just in case there was a threat. 

The ceiling rippled, and a big the size of Hizashi’s face came crawling out of the wood. 

“FUCK FUCK FUCK! NOOOO! **BIIIIILLLLLL**!”

**Musutafu, 3022**

Bottles of beer were scattered around the room as the three friends sprawled out on the ground. Quiet music was drifting from Shouta’s terrible radio. They’d abandoned the couch twenty minutes ago to Present Meow who had stretched out in all his fluffy glory. 

Nemuri and Tensei were cuddled up together, leaving Shouta to bask in the free space under the coffee table. His latest beer bottle was close by if he needed it, but right now he was just enjoying the buzz. 

“It’s been a year since Hizashi disappeared.” Of course. Of course Tensei, the mauldin drunk, had to ruin it. Shouta glared at him, not that they could see it with the table in the way and took a long drag of his beer. 

Nemuri twisted closer to Tensei, “I miss him. Anytime a song from his million favorite bands plays on the radio, it physically hurts.”

“I couldn’t stand English after he was gone,” Tensei admitted, “I hated it so much that I ended up flunking the class and Nedzu had to sign off for me to graduate due to grief.”

Shouta started, smacking his head against the underside of the table. “Wait, what?”

Nemuri pushed away to stare in horrified awe at Tensei. “You did not. You’re making this up?”

Tensei grinned sheepishly, “Not really? Nedzu said he’d wave the class if I could prove I was passable in another language so that’s why I started learning Spanish which was way easier.”

Shouta just continued to gape at him. “Flunking English was a possibility?”

Tensei rolled his eyes. “Shouta. You got a perfect score after Hizashi disappeared. You can’t talk.”

Neumir’s eyes narrowed, “Wait, that’s right. Shouta, what the hell? You used to really struggle in that class then one day you were getting 100s on every assignment. And I know you weren’t pulling that self destructive shit again cause you were helping out the Yamada’s.”

Shouta refused to make eye contact. 

“Oh my god!” Tensei shrieked, sounding like a twelve year old girl at a sleepover, “You were never bad at English!”

“Shut up.”

“You were faking! The entire time!”

“I am begging you. Stop talking.”

“You just wanted one on one time with Hizashi! That’s why you asked him to tutor you!” Tensei laughed, viciously gleeful even as Shouta tried to hide his face from his terrible friends in his hands. “Oh my god Shouta, what the fuck! Why didn’t you just ask him out you weird human being?”

Nemuri slapped the back of Tensei’s head, not that it did much to stop the asshole from laughing. “Hey, leave poor Shouta alone. It’s hard to ask someone out, let alone your best friend. Just look at Hizashi, the actual human disaster.”

“What?!” Shouta slammed his head into the table again, recoiling from the pain. Hizashi had a crush on his best friend? Hizashi was going to ask Oborro out? God, now Shouta felt worse than usual thinking that he’d missed that Hizashi was dealing with a broken heart on top of his grief.

Nemuri, drunk enough to lose her filter, rolled her eyes and kept talking, “He had a list! An actual itemized list to ask you out, Shouta, like the nerd he was. It was so sad to watch because he was so bad at it.”

Hizashi had wanted to ask him out? He’d written out a list to ask Shouta out? And he’d never noticed? God, Shouta felt like an idiot. A happy idiot because Hizashi liked him back, but an idiot nonetheless. “I’m going to ask him out when he gets home.”

Tensei set him a shaky thumbs up, “Good plan! Get your man the second he’s back!” Nemuri found that to be the funniest thing she’d ever heard apparently and started laughing hysterically until she tipped over and fell to the ground. 

All the noise alerted the newest member of Shouta’s household. The sound of little claws on hardwood could be heard as the ugliest cat Tensei and Nemuri had ever seen came peaking around the corner to check on what all the noise was. 

“Shouta, you got another cat?” Nemuri squealed covering up Tensei’s, “Is that actually a cat.”

Shouta hummed, settling back onto the floor. “That’s Dumpster.”

“...Dumpster?”

“I found it in a dumpster, now it’s my cat.”

“Shouta. You are so strange.”

“Shut the fuck up Tensei.”

**St. Luke’s University, 2017**

Now, with his training to be a hero, Hizashi should be able to handle the fact that this house was filled with murderous bugs right? Wrong. There was no training that could get you ready for  _ bugs that crawled through the walls and turned you into wood!  _ No one was prepared for that shit, let alone the guy well known for his deal they fear of bugs.

Hizashi raced down the straits and through the empty living room. He slammed into the front door, hands scrambling to pull it open so he could as far away from this house as possible. But the doors were locked, and no matter how hard he shook the doors they weren’t budging. 

He could hear the bugs getting closer to where he was standing. Hizashi dropped to his knees so his mouth was near the lock as he let out a whine. Now, this wasn’t an ordinary type of whine. No, this was a mimicry of the whine of the sonic screwdriver. Hizashi had perfected it weeks ago and could use that exact sound to unlock doors. But apparently that wasn’t going to work today because the doors wouldn’t open.

A terrified scream that shook the house’s foundations was the sign when the bugs managed to get him. In a matter of seconds, Hizashi was out and down for the count as the bugs pulled him into the wood where he was lost to the darkness. 

**Musutafu, 3022**

Nemuri and Tensei had left half an hour ago. Somehow, Shouta had managed to pull himself back to his feet and stumble into bed where Dumpster and Present Meow had climbed onto his back and went to sleep like the fuzzy little assholes they were. 

None of the apartment’s inhabitants paid attention to the journal on the nightstand. Sober Shouta wouldn’t realize until years later that Drunk Shouta had opened it to the front cover and left a message for Hizashi before passing out. But luckily for Sober Shouta, Drunk Shouta wasn’t too much of an asshole. 

_ Dear Zashi,  _

_ I’m going to marry your pretty face one day. It’s going to happen, I already named a cat after you. _

_ Love, Sho  _

**St. Luke’s University, 2017**

Hizashi returned to awareness as the bugs fell away from him. He gasped, desperate to get air in for the first time in who knew how long. He didn’t have time to get his wits back before a hand was wrapped around his wrist, dragging Hizashi up and off the floor in a full out run. 

He stumbled out onto the street, letting himself flop forward onto the cool pavement. He hit the ground hard, pressing his face into the earth as he let out a scream. **“I HATE THAT FUCKING HOUSE!!** ”

“Well. The house is dead now. Seeing how it’s collapsing in on itself,” was the Doctor’s oh-so-helpful contribution. 

“My whole house is gone,” Bill moaned, sinking into the ground next to Hizashi, “All my stuff was in there!”

The Doctor turned to glare at her, “We nearly died by alien bugs and you’re worried about your stuff?” 

Hizashi huffed, “I’m not helping you move again after this. Your house is cursed.”

Bill smacked Hizashi’s shoulder. “You’re both so mean to me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Present Meow is a Main Coon cat (super fluffy cute baby’ and Dumpster is a calico mix that I just head cannon as being so ugly you kind of have to love it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been over a year, but Hizashi and Shouta are finally allowed to talk to each other. Also, Present Mic becomes an official hero in Japan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this verse, UNIT has a hero branch. In Doctor Who, UNIT is a global military organization that deals with alien threats and is based out of the UK. I can easily see them branching out into heroics when quirks appeared. 
> 
> More importantly, Hizashi and Shouta get to actually give each other the letters and talk! Took over a year, but now they can start getting their man!

**St. Luke’s University, 2018**

“Well, according to the most recent scan your personal timeline is starting to even out,” the Doctor announced after moving the scanning device over Hizashi, “I’s good progress, and as long as don’t do anything to disrupt it you should be good to head back at the end of the year.”

Hizashi let out a relieved breath as he fell back onto the bed in the TARDIS med bay. Every week he had to come in while the Doctor or Nardole ran and conducted scans, and this was the first good news he’d heard in a year. He could help but smile at that. Soon enough, Hizashi would be able to see everyone again. 

“The other good part is it’s stable enough for me to report about your apprenticeship to keep your license valid in Japan,” the Doctor explained pulling a stack of paper out from a cabinet.

“You weren’t doing that yet?”

“Seeing how it would have killed you? No. I wasn’t.” The Doctor flicked Hizashi’s ear, “I’ll pop by and do that later today. Which means you should get your letters together.”

Hizashi pushed himself up onto his elbows, “What letters?”

“The letters to your family and friends back home explaining how you’re doing. Those letters.” A rather flippant reply for something that had been eating Hizashi up inside. 

“Yo, you said I couldn’t have any contact with the people back home!” Hizashi pointed an accusing finger in the Doctor’s direction, “Like, zero contact! Any actual contact between me and people at home will result in my atoms coming apart!”

The Doctor made a soft noise at that, “I guess I didn’t tell you that you could write letters that I would deliver when it was safe then?”

“No! You did not!” Hizashi shrieked jumping to his feet, “I could have been writing them letters for months now! What the fuck!” He fixed the Doctor with a glare, “Is there somewhere I can record a video here?”

“Down the hall and to the left. But I’m leaving in ten minutes, so make it snappy.”

“You’ll leave when I’m done old man!”

**Musutafu, 3022**

Shouta rolled out of bed to the sound of his phone ringing. He had to shove Dumspter off of his face to actually get to his phone before it went to voicemail. “Yeah?”

“The Doctor’s back,” Manami was clearly choking back tears, “His ship just appeared in the yard.”

Shouta was up and out of his bed. Not even the upset cries of the cats could stop him. “Hizashi is back?”

“No, not yet.” That explained why she was crying. Shouta collapsed against the doorframe. Hizashi wasn't home yet. “But he did say we can actually have contact with Hizashi now!”

It had been a year and two months since Shouta had heard Hizashi’s voice. Over a year since he’d actually been near his closest friend, since Hizashi had fussed over Shouta or they’d watched movies together or gone to the arcade. “We can call him then?”

“I’m not sure how that would work with the whole time travel aspect,” Manami’s voice shook with tears, “But...but we can send him the letters! And he can send messages and letters back to us!”

Shouta slumped to the ground, clutching the phone like a lifeline. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, it didn’t bring Hizashi back to him. But it was something. “Do you know when the Doctor leaves?”

“Not yet. He’s busy with the Commission right now dealing with Hiza’s hero apprenticeship but he left his ship. And he promised he wouldn’t leave until he gave him our letters and information.” Shouta could hear delighted shrieks as the girls rushed around the Yamada household to get their letters together. 

Shouta breathed in. Breathed out. “I’ll be right there.”

Shouta stumbled back onto his feet and approached the bookcase where he’d stashed the journals he’d filled with words for Hizashi. It had been shortly after Shouta had moved into the apartment and he’d taken to stacking newly completed journals on the top of it. 

Shouta turned to face the judging stare of that cats. “How am I supposed to move all of these by myself?”

Present Meow just rolled over and started to purr. 

**Hero Commission Head Offices, 3022**

The President of the Commission had never dealt with the Doctor before and it showed. Her absolute bafflement as she faced down the TimeLord was the highlight of Nedzu’s day, and he was quite pleased that he’d pushed to be there as part of the board to approve Yamada’s apprenticeship and get him registered as an official hero in Japan. (It had been pretty easy seeing how Nedzu had been the one to negotiate and get Yamada’s apprenticeship set up in the first place.)

“Are you absolutely sure that the information you’ve submitted is correct,” the President demanded. 

The Doctor huffed, hands fiddling with his sonic screwdriver as he lunged across from the board, “Of course it is. I even had Nardole double check it, there’s nothing there that isn’t true.”

The President turned helplessly to the representative from UNIT’s hero branch based in the UK. UNIT just seemed to find this whole situation hilarious judging from the expression on their face, “We’re already authorized on our end. Yamada Hizashi, aka Present Mic, is a registered and recognized hero in England as a sidekick to the Doctor.”

Nedzu had to take a long sip of his tea to hide his delight at the open despair at the President’s face. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, some of the Doctor’s reports on Yamada were an experience. Nedzu’s personal favorite had to be the report of Present Mic preventing a civil war from breaking out by starting a sing-a-long to Elton John songs. That was the sort of creative thinking that Nedzu appreciated and tried to cultivate in his students, and he was glad to see the Doctor continuing to promote that in Yamada. 

The President gestures down to the papers, “You put down as heroic valor that Present Mic and your other sidekick Bill Potts went around petting every dog they saw!”

The Doctor winced at that, “Maybe don’t call Potts my sidekick? She wouldn't like that.”

“Petting every dog counts as heroic valor?!”

The Doctor waved a dismissive hand at her, “They made the gods feel like very good boys and girls. That counts as heroic valor to me.”

“Petting dogs!”

Nedzu put down his mug. He was particularly proud of how menacing it sounded. “Are you saying that the feelings of animals are unimportant?” The heavily implied, in front of me, echoed through the room. 

“Animal feelings matter just as much as human feelings, don’t be speciesist,” the Doctor scolded even as he straightened up to fix the President with his heavy gaze, “For the last two years, Yamada has overcome incredible difficulty with a grace few would manage. He was abducted from his home, forced away from his family and friends, and still managed to pull himself together as a student and a hero. He’s managed to get a degree in languages and literature while also filling more than enough hours as a hero to make him an official hero. Are you honestly telling me that you don’t want him as a Japanese hero?”

“We’ll gladly take him if you don’t want him,” the UNIT representative added with an easy smile, “Like I already said, Yamada is already a registered hero in the UK. That dog thing you’re so stuck on? Has just put Yamada in our top fifty heroes. We could use someone with his experiences.”

That threat seemed to be what made up the president’s mind. The threat of new heroic talent being poached was too much to deal with. “Present Mic’s reports are legitimate. The agency I’ll Name It Later had provided more than sufficient documentation. You do understand that due to the circumstances you will need to continue to supply reports on Yamada’s heroic actions so we can keep his spot in the rankings accurate?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t want to ruin the rankings.” The Doctor pushed himself up onto his feet. “I assume we’re done here?”

“Indeed, everything is in order. I will be double checking it later today.” Nedzu let the threat hang heavy in the air as he got to his seat, “Doctor, why don’t I walk you out.”

An easy shrug was the Doctor’s response and the pair headed out of the room, leaving the President and rep behind to finish up the paperwork. Nedzu waited until the door was shut to address the Doctor again. 

“My student is well then?”

“As can be expected. He’s been struggling with being cut off from everyone, but being told he can have contact again has been good for him,” the Doctor admitted, “You could write to him as well if you would like.”

“I am planning to. The next time you come by I will have a letter prepared to check in on him,” Nedzu promised. “Has he gotten his tattoo yet?”

The Doctor stumbled at the question. “Has he got a what?”

“A tattoo. The first time I saw Present Mic, most of his left arm was covered in a very intricate tattoo,” Nedzu explained. Practice had him sending a secretive smile towards the Doctor, “Just something to look forward to.” 

**Musutafu, 3022**

It was late when Shouta managed to escape and get home. He was down a crate of journals that he’d put in the TARDIS in exchange for some sort of disc the Doctor had given him from Hizashi. 

He’d escaped from the Yamada’s house the minute he could, leaving the Doctor to his fate to face down the six furious Yamada women who could not believe the TimeLord hadn’t informed Hizashi he could write to them all. 

Shouta was just thankful that he could actually see Hizashi again, even if it was just a recording. He settled back on his bed only to be quickly swarmed by Present Meow and Dumpster who wanted to be pressed up against him as much as possible. That made it a bit easier for Shouta to reach out and press the button to start the recording. 

The device came whirling to life and Shouta finally got to see what Hizashi looked like after over a year apart. His hair was longer, pulled back in a messy braid. Shouta’s eyes traced over the piercings in Hizashi’s eyebrows and nose, the bright hearing aid and new glasses covering bright red eyes. He looked...beautiful. The last hints of baby fat were gone from his face leaving sharp cheekbones that Shouta wanted to trace.

A lovely smile crossed Hizashi’s face as he brushed his bangs out of his eyes. “Hey Sho-chan. It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

Only the cats were witnesses to Shouta’s tears.

“I’m so sorry I don’t have more to give you, but I’m going to give the Doctor hell for that. So I kicked him out of the TARDIS until I finished up.” Hizashi’s smile was wistful and it actually hurt to see, “I don’t know what to tell you right now? I’ve been taking ballet and kick boxing to keep in shape for hero work, especially with all the running we’ve been doing.”

Hizashi let out a wry laugh. “This is ridiculous. The Voice hero, the guy who can never shut up. Lost for words? Who would have thought it? It must be a dream come true for you Shouta, you told me to shut up plenty of times before.”

Shouta ached to reach out and touch him. He longed to pull Hizashi into his arms and tell him to keep talking, that Shouta never wanted him to shut up.

“I never meant to leave you. I hope you know that Sho.” Hizashi admitted, “I want to come home more than anything else in the world. I’d trade all of this, all the different worlds and the different aliens, to be back with you again. To actually grow up and become heroes by your side. But that’s not what life had planned for us, so we just have to make the best of it. Don’t we?”

“I’m trying,” Shouta whispered, “I’m really trying Zashi.”

Hizashi took a deep breath, obviously steeling himself before the smile dropped away. For the first time, Present Mic stared back at Shouta. Calm, composed, the man who had faced down threats beyond imagining on alien worlds long gone stared directly at Shouta. “I’m going to come home Shouta, that’s a promise I won’t break. I’m going to come home, then I’m going to ask you out because I’ve been regretting that I never took that leap since the angel took me and I don’t want to regret anything else. So no matter what happens, just remember that I will come back to you and I love you so much. Not even the universe can keep us apart.”

The recording ended. And the Boy Who Waited broke down and cried for the first time since Hizashi was taken away. 

**St. Luke’s University, 2018**

For the first time since he ended up in 1945, Hizashi let himself cry. He was curled up in his bed on the TARDIS, clutching a box of journals from Shouta in his arms. Scattered around him were letters from his sisters, his moms, and his friends. All parts of his life that he’d had taken away from him in an instant. Holding the physical letters in his hands felt like he’d managed to reclaim that stolen part from him. 

The Doctor had herded Nardole and Bill out of the TARDIS hours ago to give him some privacy. Right now, a mess of tears and snot, Hizashi was so grateful he was alone to read over the words from his family. 

His hands were shaking as he opened the journal on the top of the crate. A choked sob left him. Shouta’s handwriting had changed a bit since he’d been gone. It was still small and cramped, somehow managing to look as exhausted as the person who was writing. Hizashi’s fingers traced over the letters until his eyes caught the message scrawled on the front cover.

That was when he broke down into heaving sobs. He’d never missed home more than he did right then. Alone on the TARDIS, the Boy Who Was Lost mourned for his life a universe away. 

_ Dear Zashi,  _

_ I’m going to marry your pretty face one day. It’s going to happen, I already named a cat after you. _

_ Love, Sho  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly believe the Doctor would put some weird shit on Hizashi’s hero record. Like going around petting dogs is the least strange thing he did under the Doctor’s orders. 
> 
> Also, I have to go back to work on Monday. Our vacation week is over, so I won’t be able to update everyday cause I got bills to pay. Instead, I’m going to follow my therapist’s advice and aim for a more realistic goal, meaning switching to weekly updates. So next Sunday I’ll have a new chapter for you all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Brian decided we need some angst, so here we are. This chapter took forever to write, but I am so glad it’s done. Plus, it introduces one of my crossover head cannons for this universe: All for One and Cybermen working together.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

_ Dear Shouta, _

_ The Doctor said it would be another year and then I can come home. I’m looking forward to actually seeing our place and meeting the cats! Mom says that Dumpster has to be the ugliest cat ever seen, but I don’t think I believe her. Anyway, I’m working on my Masters now and am nearly done... _

**Kamino Ward, 3022**

They had been heading for the planet Barcelona when the TARDIS suddenly forced its ways out of the vortex. Hizashi was quick to grab onto the railing, wrapping an arm around Bill to keep her from falling as the Doctor cling tight to the controls. It was the wildest ride Hizashi had ever been on in the TARIDS, and that was really saying something. 

“What just happened,” Bill asked, ducking further into Hizashi’s side as a shower of sparks was sent across the room, “Doctor? Why’s it doing that?”

“Something is forcing the TARDIS down,” the Doctor explained flipping switches and toggling levers, “Both of you! Hold tight as I get her set down!” 

Hizashi’s feet still slipped out from under him as the TARDIS smashed into the ground. He was just lucky that he didn’t take Bill down with him as another explosion of sparks came bursting out of the console. The lights turned red as everything came to a stop.

“Did the ship crash?” Hizashi asked, getting back onto his feet as Nardole came bolting up from the TARDIS’s depths. “Did you break the ship?!” Nardole demanded. 

“It isn’t broken, and we did not crash,” the Doctor chided, stepping away from the console. “The TARDIS just decided that we needed to be here for some reason.”

“It can do that?” Bill asked, “Just decide to go somewhere all on its own?”

“Of course it can. All ships can do that. What matters more is where and when we are.” The Doctor explained, “Kamino Ward in Japan. Now for the when...ah.”

Hizashi frowned, “When are we then?”

The Doctor shot him a pensive look. “The year 3022. A year and six months since you were taken.”

Hizashi could feel his breath catch in his chest at that. He was home? He actually got to come home? To see his family, his friends? To see Shouta again? 

The Doctor reached out and quickly grabbed his arm. “Before you go running out there, we still need to be careful. If everything was truly fixed in your timeline, then we should have landed in Musutafu.”

“Got it. I’ll check before doing anything else,” Hizashi promised following the Doctor to the entrance. He took a deep breath, and then stepped into his native timeline once again. 

It felt...strange. Almost like the air was itching him. Hizashi could feel his skin prickling as the others clambered out of the TARDIS to gather around him. Each breath was mildly uncomfortable, like he was inhaling smoke instead of clean air. His fingers flexed and curled without conscious thought as Hizashi just stood there.

“How’s that feeling then?” Nardole asked, fluttering around, “Not feeling like your insides are liquefying?”

“Nah, irks just kind of itchy. Like I’m allergic to the air,” Hizashi admitted, “But my fingertips are starting to hurt…” 

“Hold up your hand then,” the Doctor demanded pulling out the sonic to sun a scan over Hizashi’s hands.

Hizashi raised his hands. Bill gasped as the Doctor leaned in to study it. “What’s happening to my hands?!”

“Your skin is flaking off,” Bill admitted, “It’s really gnarly to look at!”

The Doctor nodded to himself putting the sonic away. “Your timeline is mostly fixed, but there’s still some issues with it degrading which is what you are feeling now. It’s not bad enough to rip you into atoms right now, but continued exposure to the timeline will kill you.”

Nardole clapped Hizashi on the shoulder, “You know what that means, right?”

Hizashi pouted, “Back into the TARDIS, yo.”

“Right, and no calling anyone! We don’t want to push back your progress,” the Doctor ordered, “Stay alert though, this delayed decay means if we really, truly need to, I might call you in as back up depending on what we find. Understand?”

“Crystal clear, Doctor,” Hizashi promised heading back into the TARDIS, “I’ll keep a com line on and work on a class project or something.”

“Good lad.” And then the three were gone, headed deeper into whatever faced them at Kamino Ward. Hizashi took a deep breath, the stepped back into the TARDIS and closed the doors behind him. 

It took almost no time at all to get himself set up in the library. His work was spread out around him as he lounged on a couch, flipping through the various books to write his thesis. Headphones covered his ears, music blocking out the world around him as he focused on getting the phrasing of his most recent sentence just right so his advisor didn’t kill him.

That was why even with his hearing aids in, Hizashi missed the alarm of the TARDIS’s doors being opened or the noise to indicate an intruder. He had no idea about the six year old who had stumbled across the TARDIS when finding something new in his home, like all kids did. Hizashi was writing a discourse on the meaning of heroism while a child poked around in the most advanced alien ship to ever land on Earth. 

It was really only chance that the child managed to make his way into the library, awe on his tiny face. It could have been from the rows and rows of books, of the great swimming pool in the center. Either way, all that mattered was how excited the kid was as he slowly crept through the towering bookshelves. Red eyes widened as seeing another person in this bizarre place as the child slowly approached Hizashi. 

Later, Hizashi would argue that his devotion to academics was clearly the reason why he didn’t notice a whole human child approaching him. He would defend that claim to the death, arguing fiercely that anyone who had ever had to write a thesis paper would understand how it sucked you in until nothing else mattered. That was why he didn’t notice an actual person sneaking up on him even with all of his hero training. 

The child hesitated, one small gloved hand reaching out. It took a few starts and stops but eventually he managed to make contact with Hizashi’s shoulders. 

Like an electric current running through his veins, Hizashi whirled around to face whatever had crept up on him behind. (He didn’t care that he had a deep, ingrained fear of being attacked from behind. The last time it had happened had started this whole mess.) He’d expected Bill or Nardole checking in on him, not some random child who’d clearly tumbled into the TARDIS. 

Hizashi pushed his headphones off, “Hey kid, what are you doing here?”

The kid fidgeted, eyes darting around the library. “Is this your place?”

“Ah, no. It’s a friend’s, he’s just letting me stay here little listener,” Hizashi sent an easy smile back towards the kid. 

The kid who just scowled back at him. “How did it get here?”

“Huh?”

“The box! How did it get inside, I know every inch of this place and I’ve never seen a blue box before,” the kid chattered away sinking down into a squat to be eye level with Hizashi, “Is it a magic box?”

“What makes you think that?” Hizashi questioned.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” the kid whispered, eyes darting around, “Is it a quirk? Is that what caused this?”

“No, no quirk. Just some tricky science,” Hizashi explained with an easy shrug. “Was the door locked?”

“No?”

“Then I’m going to have to have a word with my friend. He was supposed to lock it before going out.” Or the TARDIS had unlocked it, but that was usually not a good thing for Hizashi. Still, couldn’t have some kid wandering around here without supervision. “Is one of your parents close by?”

The kid’s face closed off, “No.”

That was concerning. “A guardian? Someone who takes care of you?” 

That got a quick smile from the kid, “Yeah! Sensei had Kurogiri look after me! He takes great care of me!”

Hizashi grinned, getting onto his feet the kid scrambling to match him. “Then why don’t I walk you back to this Kurogiri? Make sure you don’t get lost in any other strange boxes.”

The child scratched at his neck, eyes nervous, “I don’t know...Kurogiri says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.” 

“I’m Yamada Hizashi,” he held a hand out for the kid in front of him to take. 

The kid looked stunned and delighted to be offered just a simple handshake. There was something almost reverent as they shook hands. “I’m Shimura Tenko.”

“Well Tenko, why don’t we find your guardian,” Hizashi gently took the tiny hand in his and started leading Tenko out of the library and back out of the TARDIS and into what looked like some sort of base. The walls were all metal. Nothing organic or loving could be seen in any direction. “How long have you lived here, little listener?”

“Kurogiri said I’ve been here for about a year,” Tenko admitted even as he pressed closer to Hizashi’s side as they walked through the empty hallway, “What about you?”

“What about me?” Already he could feel the air and time starting to tear away at him.

“How long have you been in the weird box? Is that where you live now?”

Hizashi let out a pained huff at that. “I guess you could say that. It’s been...oh, close to two years now? Yeah, about two years. But if I’m lucky then after one more year then I can move to a new home!”

Tenko frowned at that, “You’re just going to leave?”

Well, it sounded harsh when phrased like that. “Well, I never actually wanted to be there in the first place. It’s fun, and I like the Doctor and Bill. And Nardole some days. But I’m only really there because I’m sick, so when I get better I want to go home.”

Tenko looked a little lost at that. “You can just...go. And nothing bad will happen to you.”

Hizashi hummed softly, getting an idea of where this was going. He’d basically had this exact same talk with Umeko and Chiharu when they had first been brought into the Yamada. “You can always go if you don’t feel safe or happy, Tenko. Hizashi tilted his head to fix Tenko with a heavy look. “And if someone tries to keep you from going somewhere where you’re safe, then you should try and get away from them too.”

The almost angry look on Tenko’s face was to be expected. Kids didn’t like being told that the adults around them couldn’t be trusted. Hizashi certainly hadn’t when he was a kid. “Sensei takes care of me!”

“He might, but that doesn’t mean this is the right place for you,” Hizashi stopped, dropping into a crouch so he could look at Tenko, “When I was your age, I was in a place where people were supposed to take care of me. But they didn’t, and it hurt a lot.” Memories of well meaning but cruel words, of being too loud, of not having control. Of the muzzle. “Then one day I got away from them, and I found people who actually took care of me.”

Tenko hunched in further on himself, one small hand scratching at his neck. “I can’t leave. Sensei would be mad at me and it would be my fault!”

“Maybe, maybe not. But if Sensei really looks after you, he’ll want you in the best place,” Hizashi knew he wouldn’t be able to change the kid’s mind right then and there. It had taken him years of constant reassurance and love from his moms to even start contemplating that he wasn’t at fault for how the foster homes had treated him. 

But maybe, Hizashi mused as he took Tenko’s hand and continued down the hallway, maybe he could plant a little seed of doubt in Tenko’s mind. Just a small thing, that could one day grow and let him escape and find the safety he needed to thrive. 

Absently, Hizashi rubbed at his chest as Tenko guided him through the halls. His lungs were starting to burn the longer he spent outside of the TARDIS. It felt like he was inhaling smoke with each breath, his throat and nose burning as well. He didn’t need to look down at his hands to know the skin was reddening like a bad sunburn. Because it didn’t matter. None of the pain mattered when there was a scared kid who looked terrified of his own shadow. 

It reminded him of Chiharu when she’d first come into the home. His littlest sister’s quirk could melt through concrete if she used all five fingers, and she’d been terrified to touch any of them for years. Tenko was acting just like she had back then. 

A crackle over his comms link caught Hizashi’s attention. His hand came up to press against his earring, the simple click expanding the nano-tech in it to connect to his hearing aid. “Doctor? What’s up?”

Tenko sent him an untrusting look at whoever he was now talking to. 

“Are you on the TARDIS?” The Doctor demanded, his voice rushed and hurried like he was running (he probably was, they were always running from something). 

“....No…”   
  
“Hizashi!”

“There was a lost kid!” Hizashi protested, a bit of Voice creeping in, “I couldn’t just kick him out of the TARDIS and leave him!”

The Doctor growled at that. “You need to get him out of here. Right now!”

“Doctor? What’s wrong?”

“We found Cyberman technology here. Someone is using Cyberman tech to bring the dead back to life.”

Hizashi forze. He stared blankly ahead, pinned by the unholy weight of what was happening here. 

Bringing the dead back to life was bad enough as it was. It said a lot about all societies that there was a type of funerary process, some way to take sure that the dead were honored and respected. There was a universal response to desecrating someone who had finally been laid down to rest. 

But adding Cyberman into it? Only a madman or an absolute idiot would ever think of using that technology. Cybermen were some of the only beings in the universe whose brainwashing devices were so terrifyingly effective, that there was currently no counter against them. Entire species had been wiped out by them, planets left behind as empty husks. The Doctor had never allowed Hizashi or Bill near a Cyberman, always shuttering them away in the TARDIS in fear of what could happen to them if they were caught unaware.

And someone had brought that threat here. To Hizashi’s home, where his family and friends and love of his life were in danger. No wonder the TARDIS had decided that they needed to come here.

“I’m going to get this kid out,” Hizashi swore. He was terrified to the point of nausea (or his stomach lining was being dissolved) but he was a hero first. And he refused to leave a kid behind, “Then I’ll send you my coordinates so you can come grab me when you’ve dealt with the Cyberman.”

“Don’t get killed,” was the Doctor’s order, “I’ll message you when I learn more.”

Hizashi turned to face Tenko, “Do you know the way out of here?”

Tenko stared back, betrayal starting to build in red eyes, “Are you a hero?”

“Kind of. It’s complicated,” Hizashi admitted, “I can explain more once we get out of here, but I really need to get you somewhere safe.”

Tenko glared up at him, “I told you Sensei is safe!”

“Tenko, listener, this isn’t about Sensei right now,” Hizashi breathed out, starting to drag the kid down the hall. His muscles had started to burn now as well. “There’s a really scary monster here, and I don’t want it to hurt you.”

“Are you talking about the Nomu? Because they won’t hurt me!”

What the fuck was a Nomu. “It’s something different. Something really, really scary and I’ll feel a lot better once we get away from it. Can you get us outside?”

Tenko hesitated, mouth puckering as he thought about it. Hizashi could only wait, hoping against hope that the kid would help, that they could get as far away from this place as possible. That the Cybermen wouldn’t find them. But of course nothing could be that easy. 

Hizashi could feel the air displace behind him. A cold hand wrapped around his shoulder, and god did it burn! He was pulled through a black portal into another room with Tenko clutched close and twisted to face glowing gold eyes and a man made of mist. 

“Step away from Shigaraki Tomura if you want to live.” 

Hizashi tried to suck in a breath, but it burned. It burned worse than anything he’d felt since getting off the TARDIS. He was not supposed to be here. His vision blurred as Tenko shifted against his side.

“Kurogiri!” This was the kid’s guardian? Seriously? “Don’t hurt him! He’s my friend!”

The hand let go of his shoulder and Hizashi could feel his breath return. Blood was trickling down from the wound on his shoulder where his atoms had once been. 

“Young master,” Kurogiri sounded disapproving.

“Hizashi’s my friend.” The kid announced, defiant but so, so scared. “He held my hand and wasn’t afraid, and he’s like me, and promised to bring me back to you and he did! So don’t hurt him!”

“Is this true?”

Hizashi grit his teeth and blinked the black spots from his eyes. “Yeah, we’ve been trying to find you for a while now and get the hell out of here.”

Kurogiri shifted, body suddenly more threatening, “Master has ordered that the young master and I remain here. We will not leave.”

This room was different, Hizashi could tell that already as he pressed Tenko closer to his side. The technology here was too advanced for this time period. There was...there was a Cyber station in the corner with a charging Cyberman. There was a Cyberman just a few feet away from them, they needed to get out. “Look, it isn’t safe here for either of you. We need to go, right now before anything happens.”

Tiny hand clutched his pants leg. Kurogiri seemed to waver, his eyes on the kid. “It is...safer here.”

“Not right now it isn’t. Cyberman technology has been found here, and if their tech is here then they are too,” Hizashi snapped. The light glinted off the metal on Kurogiri’s neck brace. The neck brace that look suspiciously like Cyber tech. 

“Hizashi said it was really scary,” Tenko’s tiny voice added, “And he helped me find you, and he’s my friend!”

Kurogiri faltered at that. The mist shifted, showing a hint of fluffy hair, of a different colored eye and familiar nose before being swallowed by the mist again. Just a moment, but enough for Hizashi who had never for a single second forgotten what  _ he’d _ looked like.

Hizashi’s atoms were fragile, damaged by the angel. Seeing or speaking with anyone who had a major impact on his timeline could kill him, the Doctor had said years ago. It was why Hizashi could be in contact with his family. Hizashi choked down another breath, staring unseeing at Kurogiri as his mind raced. 

Fact: the very air in this room was killing him. The whole base was killing him because it was somehow connected to his timeline. 

Fact: Cybermen could bring the dead back to life to join their forces.

Fact: Shirakumo, even in death, was still a major part of his timeline. 

Fact: Hizashi recognized the man standing across from him, the man wearing Cybertech around his throat.

Fact: no one had seen Shirakumo’s body after the funeral. There was no guarantee that he had actually been buried that day. Not when Cybermen and villains were involved. 

Conclusion: Kurogiri was Shirakumo. Hizashi’s dead best friend wasn’t so dead. And while he wasn’t a full Cyberman, he could still be controlled by them. But there was a chance, a small chance, that the tech hadn’t taken control yet. 

Hizashi straightened up, staring down Kurogiri even as his thoughts crashed and whirled in his mind. Lights flashed from the charging station, the full Cyberman was waking up. There was only one logical conclusion that would have the best possible outcome.

Hizashi would have to reach Shirakumo so he could get Tenko out.

“You’d leave Tenko here to die?” Hizashi hissed, suddenly all edges and threat. Tenko. Clung tight, red eyes wet with tears. “Seriously? You aren’t the half the man I thought you were.”

Kurogiri’s eyes narrowed, “We have never met before.”

“Yes, we have. We were best friends for years, before you ended up here,” Hizashi spat out. Cybermen didn’t remember. They were not human. But Shirakumo wasn’t a full Cyberman yet. There was a chance, “And the Shirakumo I knew would never leave a child’s safety up to chance!”

Kurogiri recoiled from him. Emotion. Humanity. Hizashi had to keep pressing. 

(On the opposite side of the base, the Doctor and All for One met. They faced off against each other, the Doctor shielding his companions from an ancient evil. His sonic screwdriver whirled, active and by his side. 

“I will be victorious,” was All for One’s grim prediction, “The scavenged technology will allow my plans to succeed, and you will not be able to stop them. Even if I fall, my successor will bring about a new age in my image!”

“You’re right, I won’t beat you,” the Doctor smiled. The Oncoming Storm was awake, “But I don’t need to. Not when you’re going to be defeated by a hero!” 

All for One never realized that the sonic had hacked into the buildings surveillance equipment and was broadcasting it live. In many universes, All for One was terrifying because he was the boogeyman, a myth. And the Doctor had just stripped that way from him.)

“The Shirakumo I knew would out Tenko first! He wouldn’t give a fuck abiut what this Master, or Sensei, or whoever wanted. Not if it was a threat to Tenko’s safety!” Hizashi stood tall and proud. His lungs and skin burned but he would not fall. He would not fail Shirakumo. 

Kurogiri was practically cowering in front of him. One hand was pressed against his temple as wide gold eyes stared beseechingly up at Hizashi. “I...I’m not…”

“What’s my hero name.” 

“I...what?”

“My name! What is my hero name!” Blood vessels burst in Hizashi’s eye. He wiped absently at his nose, smearing the blood leaking from it across his cheek as he approached Kurogiri. He reached out and wrapped his hands around Kurogiri/Shirakumo’s shoulders and held on tight, even as it hurt, “Look me in the eye and tell me who I am!”

The mist flickered and cleared for a second. A shaking hand raised to brush against his cheek leaving a bloody line in its wake, “Hiza...Present Mic...your my...my…”

“I’m your friend,” Hizashi promised, distantly aware that the noises from the charging station had stopped. The Cyberman was waking up, “I will always be your friend. And right now, as your friend, I need you to get Tenko as far away from here as possible.”

Shirakumo, it was definitely Shirakumo now, stared at little Tenko. There was something soft and vulnerable in his gaze at the sight of the scared child. “Young Tomura…”

“He needs you, right now, to get him somewhere safe,” Hizashi smiled. It was soft, and terrible. “I need you to get him somewhere safe, can you do that for me?”

“Hiza….”

Tenko whimpered while pressing closer to both of them as the sound of metal scraping reached them. The Cyberman was awake. 

“Take him and go,” Hizashi ordered stepping away from them both to put himself between them and the corner where the Cyberman was going. 

(The feed the Doctor was broadcasting was showing on every channel, or every television and phone screen there was. The feed switched from the Doctor and All for One to a room with a terrified child, a man made of mist, and an up and coming hero. 

Shouta collapsed in front of his TV set, the cats crying around him. Hizashi was there. Hizashi was somewhere out there, if Shouta could just get to him.

The Doctor grinned. “Ladies and gentlemen! The savior of earth, the hero of the hour! The official debut of Present Mic!”)

Shirakumo gathered Tenko into his arms. He was crying, weeping for the boy he sort of remembered who stood before him all grown up. Tenko buried his face against his chest, and Shirakumo clutched the child every molecule in his body screamed to keep safe close. 

“Hizashi,” Tenko whispered. He was so scared, “You have to come too.”

Hizashi breathed out. A smile was plastered on to cover the fear. He made sure to beam over his shoulder at the terrified child. “No can do little listener. I need to make sure that this guy over here doesn’t follow you.”

Tenko looked heartbroken, “Then you’ll come with us?” He didn’t want to lose his first friend. 

Hizashi’s smile gentled. “Of course kiddo. Once he’s gone, I’ll come join you.”

Shirakumo exhaled, breath shaken. Then he summoned his quirk and took Tenko through the portal leaving Hizashi alone with the awake Cyberman.

(Shouta’s heart broke. Hizashi was alone. They’d...they’d left Hizashi and he would die alone and Shouta would never be able to tell him how much he was loved.)

Hizashi was alone now. It was just him, and the approaching Cyberman. He made sure to stand tall and proud even as blood began to leak from his ears as he stood between the Cyberman and the exit. The Doctor wasn’t here. No other heroes were here. Hizashi would have to be enough. “You won’t win.” A promise. 

It’s expression didn’t change. “The Doctor is not here. The Doctor will not stop us. This planet will be converted.”

“No it won’t. Because we don’t need the Doctor,” Hizashi twisted his braid back into a bun. (He ignored how his lungs were burning, how the palms of his hands left steaks of blood in his hair) A quick flick of his wrist and it was pinned in place, “I’m going to stop you.” 

If Cybermen could feel emotion it would be laughing at him now. “You are obsolete. You are inferior to the Cybermen. How will you stop us?”

(Across Japan, every TV set switched on as the story spread. A hero was on live a hero was standing between them, and the monsters in the dark. Present Mic’s debut was played out in technicolor for millions to see. Just one bloody body standing between the world and a monster.

In a half filled apartment, Shouta pressed his hand to the screen. He couldn’t look away, not from Hizashi’s debut.)

“Because I’m not obsolete. Not one person on this planet is obsolete. They have stories, and ideas, and are filled with brilliance that you will never comprehend,” 

Hizashi grinned. All bloody teeth and threat, “And who knows? Maybe I’ll fail!”

(The nation held its breath.)

“Maybe you’ll kill me! Convert me and try to turn me against everyone I love! But it won’t matter,” Hizashi stood tall. A mighty tree in the face of insignificant danger because it’s roots run deep. “Even if you kill me. You won’t win. Because out there? Is a world filled with people who matter! People who will oppose you every step of the way! People who will help, and heal, and show the very best humanity has to offer as a species!

And you can’t defeat that. Not as long as there is some speck of good out there. Because as long as a speck of light of kindness is out there, your darkness will not prevail!”

(His family was crying, so proud of the man he’d become and so terrified for him. His old home room teacher saw the hero he was always meant to be step into the light. His friends, unable to move as they watched him stand tall. 

The boy...no, man who loved him praying he’d survive. 

And an old friend brought back from beyond the grave waking back up even as he held tight to the child Hizashi was sacrificing his life for after they fled the base watching the fight live on a tv sale screen. Tenko was captivated. He couldn’t look away.) 

The Cyberman raised its arm. The gun whirled to life. “You will be deleted. Your planet will be deleted.”

Hizashi sneered. “You won’t touch them. Not a single one.”

Then, Hizashi opened his mouth

And SCREAMED. 

In the future he would scream words, Yeah being the most famous one that would spark several memes. But today, Hizashi just let loose. He screamed out all his fear, pain, and heartbreak. Rage, hope, and victory pitched his voice up and out through the room. The Cyberman stumbled, sinking to its knees before him. The Cybertech exploded around them, sparks reigning down in the room. His lungs were seizing, he could feel them cramping and something wet spreading inside of them but he could not stop. He did not bend or break at that threat in front of him?

Hizashi’s vision swam as more blood vessels burst in his eyes. His ears were ringing, no doubt the eardrum had ruptured under the force of his Voice. Eventually, his breath ran out and Hizashi had to gasp for breath. The Cyberman took the chance to regain its feet, the gun smoking helplessly on its arm. 

“You are a threat to the Cybermen. You will be deleted.”

Hizashi spat, uncaring that it was more blood then spit. Everything hurt so fucking badly but he couldn’t fall. He could not bend. So he gathered another breath and pitched up his Voice and SCREAMED again. All of the cameras burst in a shower of glass as Hizashi’s Voice forcibly slid the Cyberman across the floor and back towards the converter unit. 

(Shouta’s breath froze in his lungs when the video footage cut out. “No, nonono,” he breathed, reaching out helplessly to the tv set, “Zashi no, please come back.”

Across Japan, the Doctor had dragged Bill and Nardole back into the TARDIS to get away from All for One. “We have to go back,” Bill begged, “We can’t leave Hizashi!”

“We can’t,” the Doctor said sending the TARDIS into the vortex, “I can’t save him from this. But he won’t die, I can promise you that.”

In front of the tv shop, Shirakumo felt his stomach drop as his video feed of Hizashi cut out. Tenko curled closer to him, crying softly. Determination started to burn in Shirakumo’s chest. He wouldn‘t lose Hizashi, not when he’d just gotten back to him.)

The room was alight with sound and light. The electronics were destroyed, collapsing in on themselves under the weight of Hizashi’s quirk. He’d practiced for years, and now his sonic screams were just as good as the sonic screwdriver. Not even Cybertech could stop him. 

In front of him, the Cyberman shuddered as the technical parts caught fire. It collapsed onto its front, shaking helplessly as the slowly remaining human parts burned away, leaving an empty husk behind. The Cyberman was dead.

And Hizashi would soon follow. His legs couldn’t hold his weight anymore, it all just hurt too much. He was drowning in his own blood, laying there helplessly and bleeding out as his molecules were stripped away from him. If the time stream didn’t kill him, then the fire would. Hizashi slipped into the darkness, splayed limp before the burning husk of the Cyberman. 

The universe held its breath. Time seemed to come to a halt. Then, from the smoke came a portal. Shirakumo stepped through and raced to his friend’s side. It was so easy to just lift Hizashi off of the ground, the blond was surprisingly light and stepped back through another portal as the universe exhaled. He stepped into a crowded street, cameras and recorders distributing the image across Japan in seconds.

A man made of mist stood in the middle of the street. In his arms was Present Mic, limp and bleeding out. Golden eyes traced the bloody face unaware that his hands were dissolving Hizashi’s skin, his shoulder flaking away to reveal muscle and bone beneath it as his atoms were destroyed. Shirakumo just held tight to his friend unaware that he was slowly killing him. 

(Shouta watched a man made of mist and  _ saw  _ what he was doing to Hizashi. And Shouta burned.)

Before Shirakumo could move, a strange wheezing sound surrounded him. He stood stock still as the TARDIS formed around him, Nardole and Bill rushing to take Hizashi from his arms. His mind was still fuzzy, that was the only reason he let Hizashi slip out of his arms and be carted away. 

The Doctor stepped up to face him. “I’m going to need you to leave.”

“He’ll be okay?” Shirakumo asked, his voice small and scared, “Hizashi will be okay?”

“He will once we leave, which isn’t happening with you here,” the Doctor explained, shoving Shirakumo towards the door. “I won’t let him die.”

Shirakumo stepped through the door and turned back to face the Doctor. The weight of the last day finally had caught up with him. “What am I supposed to do now?” He had nothing to go back to. Only Tenko to protect.

“Who knows? There’s a whole world for you to rediscover.” And then the TARDIS was gone. 

**Hlos 27, 7592**

In a medical bay on a distant asteroid, Hizashi slept under the weary watch of the Doctor. A letter rested on the bed stand next to the comatose body.

_ Zashi, _

_ Please be alright. Please, please be okay. And come back home to me. I’ll wait for you. _

_ Shouta  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So why did Shirakumo fight off the mind control so quickly? Time, really. The long the collar device is on, the longer it take for him to question/go against the orders. So in cannon, it’s been on for 15 years. In this verse, it been 3. Still controlling, but easier for Shirakumo to work around. 
> 
> Next couple of chapters will include Hizashi healing (all happy endings here) and the relationship between Shirakumo and Shouta. That’s something I’m interested in exploring because their dynamic is going to shift since cannon interactions no longer apply.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Hizashi, I’m actually sort of projecting an issue I still have today onto him. His focus and emphasis on changing how he looks/covering his scars is based on a reaction I had. In college, I was in a bad accident and my face ended up badly scarred. I changed my hair, my makeup, and then updated my wardrobe to feel more confident and more like myself.
> 
> That’s what I’m having Hizashi try and portray. It isn’t an arrogant or vain outlook. It’s waking up and you don’t feel right in your skin so you fix it mentality. I hope that will make things clear.

**Hlos 27, 7593**

The hospital room on the asteroid was silent except for the hissing of machines. Letters from loved ones were scattered across the nightstand, flowers from a long gone time standing watch over the prone form. And unconscious in the bed, Hizashi recovered slowly but surely. 

The doctors in this time period have already adjusted to time related injuries, much better than even the TARDIS was prepared to handle (never be surprised about the stupidity of humans and time travel). Their force field had slowly repaired Hizashi’s broken body over the course of a year, connecting atoms back together. The worst had been the inside, the mess of blood and dissolved tissue in his lungs and stomach that had needed six months of extensive care to regrow. 

But finally Hizashi was fixed. Slowly, so very slowly when the Doctor and Bill came to check on him he returned to full health. He was whole again, but so badly scarred. By the encounter. His palms were a mass of scar tissue from where he’d grabbed Shirakumo, his fingertips would permanently be discolored, but the worst one was on his left arm. The place where Shirakumo had held him carrying him out of the destroyed base was knotted, thick, scar tissue that covered the entire shoulder and crept down his arm. It had been the cause of more than one set of tears for Bill before the Doctor had decided they should visit once a month until Hizashi woke up to let him heal.

It had been a year of healing. A year of Hizashi just floating in the darkness and recovering his strength. Then, on what would be a Thursday back on earth like when he had been taken by the weeping angels, Hizashi woke up. 

**Musutafu, 3023**

It had been a year since Shouta had seen Hizashi on tv. A year of the Doctor and Bill coming by every month promising Hizashi was healing, that he was recovering. A year of fear and worry only matched by what he’d felt when Hizashi first disappeared all that time ago. 

A year since Shirakumo was found alive in a villain’s lair with a child who had been raised to be a villain. A year since Shouta watched one of his oldest friends nearly kill the love of his life on live tv. Shouta had watched as the friend he had lost had ripped Hizashi’s atoms away from his body, letting Hizashi bleed out. 

He...he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to reconcile the fact that one of his closest friends wasn’t dead. Or that even with the medical treatment in the future, Hizashi could still die if the damage was bad enough. So Shouta did what he was best at, he avoided the entire issue.

It hadn’t been hard. For the last year Shirakumo had been held in a villain rehabilitation center focused on undoing the brainwashing All for One had forced on him. Kanako had told Shouta that the whole process had gone much better once Shirakumo lost the Cybertech color that had been controlling him. But even then, Shouta couldn’t bring himself to actually go and visit like Nemuri and Tensei had. It was just too much. 

He wasn’t the only one who refused to go and visit Shirakumo. Umeko, Hizashi’s little sister, absolutely refused to go and visit the rehabilitation center even with the rest of her family. According to Hizashi’s moms, she’d actually get up and leave the room if someone even mentioned Shirakumo to her. Which is how she ended up curled up on Shouta’s couch clinging to Present Meow when the rest of her family was gone for a visit. 

“It isn’t fair,” Umeko muttered burying her face in Meow’s fluffy fur.

It was the first thing she’d actually said in an hour, so he refused to let this moment pass. “What’s not fair.”

“That he got to come back home,” Umeko spat out. She clearly didn’t care that Shirakumo had been his friend, that he’d mourned the boy too even as he’d pushed Hizashi away. She was just too angry and resentful to even think that far.

Shouta tried hard not to acknowledge the pit that formed in the bottom of his stomach whenever he thought of Shirakumo. Of how it felt like a black hole formed every time he stepped into Hizashi’s empty room and was faced with the reality that Hizashi may have died, that he didn’t get a second chance or a friend to save him from a nightmare, that he was just gone.

But Umeko was sixteen and angry, Shouta couldn't burden her with this. So he just sat next to her, silent.

“I hate that he gets to come home, and Hizashi doesn’t. I hate that he gets his life back, and my big brother is still missing and that he probably killed him and I’ll never see Hizashi again!” Heaving, ugly sobs left her as Umeko collapsed into Shouta’s side, “And I hate feeling like this! I hate that I hate him, even when Hizashi sacrificed himself to give him another shot at life!”

Shouta wrapped his arm around her shoulders. That pit in his stomach was back and it hurt.

“I know he didn’t hurt Hizashi on purpose, but I don’t fucking care. I’m just...so angry all the time and I don’t know what to do,” Umeko wailed letting Present Meow go to cling to Shouta. “I don’t want to feel like this anymore, but I don’t know how to stop!” 

His eyes burned with unshed tears. There was a picture on the wall across from him, of Hizashi smiling at something off camera that Bill was showing him. He’d grown up to be gorgeous, Shouta always thought, even if it was an old picture now.

(The last image Shouta had of Hizashi in real time was of him dying, covered in blood as his atoms were torn apart. It had been a year since the Doctor could give him another letter from Hizashi, which he kept safe in a box under his bed. It had been six months since Shouta had last read Hizashi’s letters because he was afraid he might cry and damage them.)

The pit kept growing and growing. One day it would swallow him whole. “I get it,” Shouta whispered holding Umeko tight, “I understand.”

He didn’t want to understand. He wanted to be thankful that he got a friend back, that Shirakumo hadn’t been killed off too young. But was it too much to ask for Hizashi back as well?

**Hlos 27, 7593**

Hizashi was sitting up in bed as the nurses fluttered out of his room with a promise that they would call the Doctor to come and pick him up. That meant he had time, because the Doctor was never actually on time to anything even with a time machine. It allowed Hizashi to actually look at himself and see what had been done to him.

The first thing he noticed was how long his hair had gotten. Before it had brushed his shoulders, but now it pooled around his waist when he sat up. Long hair was fun, and he liked doing cool hairstyles with it, but this was ridiculous. Hizashi would have to cut his hair soon. He even had a beard and mustache and didn’t quite know what to do with those. 

There was a mirror across from the bed and Hizashi could only see a stranger looking back at him. Someone with deep bags under the eyes and pale skin. Scared palms and wrong looking fingertips, not to mention the thick scar tissue creeping down his arm that made Hizashi’s insides twist unhappily. 

He looked wrong. He’d never truly been uncomfortable with how he looked until right this moment when he felt like more scars than skin. Hizashi hated it.

His lips twisted and determination flared. If he didn’t like how he looked, he would just have to change it. Hizashi pushed up off the hospital bed and pushed his way out the door leaving the room empty behind him. 

**Yudaka Rehabilitation Site, 3023**

Having Tomura...no, his name was Tenko, he had to call him Tenko. Having Tenko visit was the highlight of Shirakumo’s week. Every Sunday for two hours, the little boy would come by the site and they would spend time together. Usually it would involve the pair playing video games or even coloring when Tenko felt more like it. It was relaxing to spend time with the kid.

All for One had never ordered Shirakumo to love Tenko. He’d never ordered for him to care, or worry, or feel for the boy. All for One had only ever ordered that Shirakumo keep the child alive until he was useful. Everything else felt like it wasn’t real.

His entire identity for more than three years had been a lie. Shirakumo had died, and then his body had been brought back and changed. His very essence had been violated. Twisting and turning what had once been a hero student into a puppet. It was hard to trust yourself when you had been broken and remade.

“You aren’t even paying attention,” Tenko’s cross voice drew Shirakumo from his thoughts and back to the child pressed up against his side in the visitor room.

“Ah, my apologies Tenko, I was lost in thought,” Shirakumo smiled, golden eyes crinkling as he ruffled Tenko’s hair, “Have you brought homework with you today?”

Tenko frowned down at the paper sitting on the table. “Not yet, Ms. Yomiji wants me to wait a bit longer so I go to school at the start of the new year.”

(Ms. Yomiji was a no nonsense but ultimately kind woman who ran a rehabilitation home for traumatized or brainwashed children, usually villains kids. Her quirk, Self Reflection, made her ideal on helping traumatized children and help them integrate back into society. Right now Tenko was one of three children Ms. Yomiji was working with and she was Shirakumo’s favorite person.)

“If that isn’t homework, then what is it?” What could possibly be more important than bringing the newest game Tenko had been gushing about a week ago?

Tenko blushed. Actually blushed, red creeping across pale cheeks as he glared down at paper. “You can’t laugh.”

Shirakumo brushes a hand through Tenko’s soft hair. “I won’t. I’ve never laughed at you before, have I?”

Tenko nodded, pushing the paper over so he could grab it. Shirakumo made sure to be gentle with the paper. He couldn’t be too rough with the paper judging from Tenko’s nervous watch there would be consequences if he so much as wrinkled the paper. So with utmost care, he gently unfolded the paper and gazed down the picture.

It was Hizashi. Bright, beautiful Hizashi dressed in the outfit he’d worn when he’d faced down the Cyberman. A childish rendition sure, but one made recognizable and clear that it was the moment when Hizashi had declared the world under his protection before destroying the Cyberman. It was also clear that it was a drawing of childish infatuation of the hero who had completely changed Tenko’s world in one afternoon.

“A great drawing,” Shirakumo breathed out, eyes tracing over familiar features, “I’m sure Present Mic will love it when he gets back.”

And Tenko smiled happily up at him. 

That night, when Tenko was gone and Shirakumo was alone in his room, he let himself close his eyes and remember. He remembered Hizashi, bright and beautiful with hair like gold. Red eyes wide and scared but still so strong as they faced their worst nightmare come to life. The feel of Hizashi’s flesh dissolving under his hand as he’d bled from his ears, eyes, and mouth as he slowly died in his arms. 

He’d been trying hard not to think about Hizashi. Hizashi, who had a powerful quirk but whose heart had been so fragile and delicate. Shirakumo could still remember getting into an actual fistfight with a couple of students from 1-B who had made fun of Hizashi for being too feminine or too gay to be a hero. 

He was purposefully not remembering the day one of their classmates had made a comment about Hizashi sucking dick to get first in class and Shouta losing his shit. It had been the only time Shouta had launched himself at someone in a rage. Normally Shouta was the one to comfort Hizashi and get him out of the room. 

But thinking about Shouta reminded him that Shouta had left Hizashi alone. He’d let Hizashi walk alone and be abducted by actual aliens which. What the fuck. Aliens were real. And they had abducted Hizashi and weren't letting him come home. Hizashi, who was sweet and kind and bright and liked music more than people some days, had been taken and still wasn’t home. Even Shirakumo had been brought home before Hizashi, and he’d actually died. 

His therapist at the facility had been pushing that Shirakumo was pushing his anger and guilt onto Shouta instead of dealing with it himself. He was also avoiding that line of thinking very carefully, just like Shouta was avoiding him. It wasn't healthy, he knew that, but he was too burned out to care. 

**Hlos 27, 7593**

The one thing he has never been able to explain to anyone about alien planets was the smell. There was always something in the air that made it fundamentally different from home. The Doctor could explain and clarify what it was with science and elements, but Hizashi liked to imagine it was more than that. 

Hlos 27 smelt like rebirth. That was it, it smelt like new beginnings and a new shot at life. It was the buzz of the trimmers at the barber shop he’d just come from, the swish of fabric as he got a new outfit, the sound of his boots walking down the street. It was alive, and Hizashi loved it. The fact that he could breathe even as he wrapped the thick coat tighter around his shoulders to keep the cold out as he searched was enough. 

Hizashi came to a stop in front of a tattoo parlor. It was small, but clean and neat. What really caught this eye were the samples of moving tattoos shown on the holographic screens in front of him. There was something mesmerizing in seeing them twist and conform across bare skin. Absently, he pressed against the thick scar tissue on his arm before stepping inside of the tattoo parlor. 

The woman behind the desk had a pleasant but bland smile. “Are you window shopping today?”

“No, I’m here to get a tattoo.” He really hadn’t meant to when he left the hospital. But now it wouldn’t leave his mind.

The bland smile fell away. “Sir, we don’t create tattoos for people unless they actually want to get one…”

Hizashi pushed his jacket off so she could see his shoulder. Her orange eyes widened at the sight of the scar, just like the barber and clothing store worked had. It was the first thing people noticed about Hizashi now, not his hair or how loud he was, but his scars. “I’m sure.”

She nodded, becoming his further into the shop. “I...I see. Is there a specific tattoo that you want?”

A memory pressed against him. The doors to the TARDIS open, sitting with Bill, their legs swinging in open space as the Doctor pointed out the features of the nebula below. A letter from Shouta tucked away in his pocket wishing Hizashi a happy twentieth birthday. It was the warmest he had felt all day.

“Can you do scenes from space?”

This smile was more natural, “That’s what we specialize in.”

Hizashi let out a breath. “Then can I get the Veil Nebula to cover this up?” 

**Musutafu, 3023**

Umeko had gone home hours ago, leaving Shouta alone in the apartment again. He should be heading to bed and settling in for the night. He really should be getting ready for his patrol for the night but he really couldn't bring himself to go out. Instead, he just wanted to sleep until everything felt better.

Shouta wandered into Hizashi’s bedroom. It was pristine. He couldn’t stand the sight of dust on anything in this room. One day, Shouta hoped, one day soon this room would be filled with a mess. Hizashi would move everything around and leave his clothes out and it would be amazing. All Shouta needed to do was hold and wait.

(He’d already waited for years. He could wait a bit more.)

**Hlos 27, 7593**

Arm wrapped up to cover his new tattoo, Hizashi headed back outside to sneak back into the hospital before anyone realized he had left. That was obviously a bad idea seeing how the Doctor and Bill were waiting across the street for him, expressions unamused as they stared at him. Hizashi smiled sheepishly, “Um. Hi?”

“God, you idiot,” Bill threw her arms around him squeezing him close before pushing away to punch his arm, “Don’t you ever do that again or I’ll kick your arse!”

Laughing, Hizashi pulled her back into another hug, “I won’t! I promise, no more life threatening stunts!”

The Doctor huffed, “I hope whatever you did when sneaking out of the hospital and scaring everyone half to death was worth it.”

Hizashi smiled. Because from the moment the tattoo needle had met skin he’d actually felt good about himself since he’d woken up. “You know? I think it really was.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa and Shirakumo are going to have a fundamentally different relationship here. Shirakumo isn’t the martyred friend, he is the person Aizawa saw on live tv killing the love of his life. Because I really think part of why Aizawa focuses so much on getting him back in cannon is because it’s easier to justify and explain away Kurogiri’s actions with the mind control, unlike watching him break through it and wonder why he didn’t earlier. 
> 
> And Shirakumo was saved from All for One, but by Yamada. In cannon, neither Yamada or Aizawa was a direct savior, but now Yamada is. And there’s a lot of trauma and anger about his abduction that he’s now projecting on Yamada so he’s blaming Aizawa.
> 
> Both are upset and have a lot of rage and guilt, which they’re projecting onto the other. They’re both sort of idolizing their now missing friend, so that’s making it worse. I hope this explains why they’re both still upset at each other.

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a mostly happy story about friendship and space adventures! Some angst, cause that’s always necessary, but over all it should be fun. And the two pining boys will get to be sweet and romantic and get together by the end. All good vibes here!


End file.
